


Baby Steps

by rmeij



Series: The (Mis)adventures of Richard Grayson - Father of One [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: AU, AU Where Dick Raises Damian, Background Character Death, Dad!Dick, Gen, Non-Graphic Violence, Violence, baby!Damian, very ooc and does not match canon batfamily universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-15
Updated: 2018-05-14
Packaged: 2018-09-17 09:51:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 28,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9317948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rmeij/pseuds/rmeij
Summary: Richard Grayson had the greatest years of his life as the first Robin, but now it's time for him to do his own thing. Be an adult, have some fun, enjoy his Young Adult years.Too bad he had to be a father at the age of 19 because Bruce can't keep his dick in his pants and is too busy brooding to be a responsible adult.





	1. Year One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damian: 6 months, 18 months  
> Dick: 18 years, 19 years  
> Month: February (With a 12 month gap between the two Februaries)

He woke up at 3AM on a Monday, he had to go to work in approximately 3 hours, but he heard crying from the baby monitor.  
  
He groaned.  
  
This should be Bruce, or at least Alfred. He doesn’t care. He wanted his extra couple hours of sleep.  
  
Dick groggily walked to the nursery, wondering why he was raising the son of Bruce Wayne and Talia Al Ghul in the first place. the kid was supposed to be Bruce’s responsibility, considering he was the one who found him on the doorstep of the Manor a couple of weeks ago. Or, maybe Talia’s, considering the kid came out of her vagina. Not Dick’s.  
  
But he couldn’t deny that Damian was cute. Of course he was. He’s an infant.  
  
“Morning Baby Bat,” he smiled, making baby Dames smile back in response. He’s a seriously cute kid, with giant baby blue eyes and chubby cheeks. He might not be into raising children by himself when he has a full time job and a nighttime vigilante gig, but he makes exceptions, sometimes.  
  
The little boy raised both of his tiny arms, indicating that he wants to be held.  
  
Dick would normally groan and say ‘it’s three am and all you want is cuddles, what is wrong with you?’, but this time, he obliged.  
  
He’s still wondering why he agreed to do this in the first place, but if he gets the little things that Bruce is missing out on, he doesn’t mind.  
  
-  
  
That day when Bruce Wayne finds a small infant tucked in a baby carrier on his doorstep, he freaked. He didn’t even bother to read the letter that was neatly tucked into the baby’s blanket, he just left it outside.  
  
Well, Damian wasn’t a baby, he was about... a year old? Half a year old? He doesn't remember, the point was the kid was small and he was still pissed that he had to raise a baby on his own. However, the man’s reaction was justifiable considering Jason Todd just died, and Bruce loved Jason as he was his own, even though he never said so.  
  
Dick knows, obviously, since the man quit being Batman right after Jason’s death.  
  
But his response to the existence of Damian was absolutely terrible.  
  
“Dick, I understand if you think I’m making the wrong decision, but-“  
  
“You’re making me raise your son,” Dick pointed out, “I’m 18! I literally just started being an adult!”  
  
Bruce pinched his nose, “I can’t raise a child, after what just happened.”  
  
“Well, if you kept your dirty dick in your pants, you wouldn’t have had one,” Dick grumbled.  
  
“Richard.”  
  
“It’s true! You’re always preaching about safe sex and all that, and here you are, with an illegitimate child because you can’t keep it in your pants long enough to get a bloody condom!”  
  
“What am I supposed to do now?”  
  
“Get Alfred to raise him! Raise him yourself! I don’t know, figure something out!” the younger responded. “I’m too young for a child, and you know that!”  
  
“Yes, but if he stays with you, then he wont be in danger of getting kidnapped,” Bruce argued, “Please, Dick. I can’t.”  
  
Dick groaned, “Fine.”  
  
-  
  
It was not fine.  
  
Bruce gets to deal with all the happy squealing and giggles, he had to deal with all the vomit and scares like that one time Damian nearly fell down the stairs of the manor. But that was a year ago, when they first found out that Bruce had a kid.  
  
They live in Dick’s apartment now, so there is no way the kid could fall down the stairs. Baby proofing the entire place was a challenge, though, considering he had to do it all by himself with no help what-so-ever from Damian’s real dad, the one who’s supposed to suffer with all his clothes either covered in vomit, drool, and/or snot.  
  
Richard Grayson was a part time police officer, part time vigilante, and full time dad.  
  
At 19.  
  
Currently single with no intention to date, as the demon child of his legal guardian has consumed all his time. He’s given him a lot of phone numbers from single moms in grocery stores, though, which is a total plus. But one can only deal with so much applesauce to the face on a daily basis.  
  
The kid was picky as well. At two years old, well, rounded to the nearest interger, his first sentence was “Dami don't wanna,” in response to Dick feeding him some puree’d vegetables. His first word was “Dada”, which was cute considering the kid has fooled himself into thinking that a 19-year-old-man was capable of becoming his actual dad.  
  
Bruce was still mourning, even after a year of Jason’s death. A couple of months ago was Jason’s birthday, and the man bawled. He would’ve been 17, and maybe, just maybe, he’d get  over the fact that Bruce was so close to taking the mantle of Robin away from him. Or, maybe Bruce would’ve changed his mind, considering Robin was his life. Dick has never seen Batman cry before, especially because of a mere sidekick. Bruce never cried when he was Robin, but then again, he didn’t die, so that’s different.  
  
Damian liked to giggle when he throws his food at Dick. He liked that the kid at least had a sense of humor, unlike both of his parents, but Dick cannot deal with another shirt getting ruined because the toddler finds it funny.  
 “Kid, eat your veggies, or else you’ll go blind like Daddy Bats.”  
  
The kid pouted, “Dami don’t wanna.”  
  
Dear Lord.  
  
-  
  
He drops of Damian to Daycare every day before work, and drops him off with Alfred every time he has to patrol. It’s like a routine, and Damian likes Alfred, so that’s a bonus. When he has off days, he brings his toddler to the grocery store and stocks up on some food, since if he didn’t, the kid wont eat. Picky bastard.  
  
Damian also likes sitting on the shopping cart, as Dick usually gives him candy to shut him up. The kid doesn’t talk very often, but he squeals rather loudly every time he sees an animal, whether it was real or stuffed on a shelf. At first, Dick thought it was cute, and let the baby boy pick out a stuffed animal for himself every time they go to the store.  
  
He regrets that now, because he has a total of 28 stuffed animals lying around his apartment, all varying in size.  
  
“Daddy! Daddy! Dami want!” the kid took out the piece of fruit roll up that he was previously sucking on, “Lookie, Daddy! Dami want!”  
  
“No, baby bats, you already have so many,” he said, “Next time, maybe?”  
  
The kid pouted, “Pwease!”  
  
He groaned. Fine.  
  
-  
  
He woke up at 5AM on a Friday to crying on the baby monitor.  
  
He sighs, _I guess this is my life now._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- edit jan 26th,
> 
> I didn't have an authors note here, so lemme just write a quick one. welcome to this story! Hope you like it, this is my first batman story, i wrote a full blown sappy one on the second chapter.
> 
> anyway, just a quick warning that this story has my own personal interpretation of all the characters in the Batman Universe, based off the Schumacher Batman movie, the Batman Trilogy by Chris Nolan, most but not all of the comics, and the animated series and movies that I've seen. 
> 
> It might deviate quite far from the canon, but it in a way makes sense with the narrative. I have done research on the specific things that happens in the story and I have been planning this since I finished my most recent HP story, as I wanted to write something light and fun. So this is supposed to be light and fun. Don't take my mistakes too seriously. I am open to criticism and I will change things when necessary or if I feel like it would help but not alter the plot dramatically.
> 
> I am writing this because I forgot to change the lil detail on Jason's birthday here. His birthday is in august and this chapter was implying that his birthday was somewhere in January. It's not really significant but like it just bothered me lol thx
> 
> I hope you enjoy the story as much as I enjoy writing it, This story is planned to have sequels, so I will be taking requests on my tumblr - I check it weekly and it's rmeij.tumblr.com
> 
> cheers xx


	2. Year One, Month One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damian: 18 months  
> Dick: 19  
> Month: Feb

“It’s not funny,” Dick groaned, “Wally, I’m not kidding. Stop.”  
  
“You’re a Dad!” Wally wheezed, “Grayson, Holy Shit, look at it.”  
  
Dick frowned, “Don’t call Dami an ‘it’. He’s not an animal.”  
  
“Yeah, but look at him,” Wally picked the little boy up, “He’s so fat.”  
  
Dick’s eyebrows furrowed, Damian’s not fat. “Fuck you.”  
  
“Fack you!” Damian giggled.  
  
Dick couldn’t help but smile, but cursed himself internally for not keeping his damn mouth shut.  
  
“Daddy! Fack you!”  
  
“Good boy, Dami, show Daddy Dickie who’s boss,” Wally chuckled.  
  
“My kid is not a dog, Wallace.”  
  
“Wow, Dick Grayson, a father at 19. Didn’t see that one coming. Heck, after that girl I didn’t think you’d ever put little Dick into another chick ever again, but lookie here, you got a little fat baby,” Wally grinned, “Your Daddy’s such a slut.”  
  
Dick gasped, “Wally! He’s two!”  
  
He saw Dami visibly yawn, so he immediately took him from Wally’s arms and cradled him in his. He’s not sure what’s happening with this kid, since all he’s been doing is eat, sleep, and sometimes vomit on Dick’s favourite shirts.  
  
“Aww, c’mon, bro, you can trust me with your kid,” Wally pouted, “I promise I wont drop him.”  
  
Dick raised his eyebrow, “Promise?”  
  
“Cross my heart and everything,” Wally smiled, Dick handed the baby to Wally which earned him a moderately loud, “Heck yeah!”  
  
It’s been approximately twelve months since Bruce left him to be the sole caretaker of Damian, and even though the first couple of months were hell, Dami’s been pretty good to him so far.  
  
Not very good to his wallet, but other than that, pretty good.  
  
Damian mostly hated clothes, but he loved warm, snuggly onesies that has little hoods on them for some reason. Barbra was overjoyed when she heard that Dick had a son, so she got a miniature Robin suit made into a onesie and Damian adored it. He loved it so much that every time he pees himself while wearing it, he gets so upset he’ll start sobbing uncontrollably until Dick pacifies him so he could wash the bloody suit.  
  
Now, Wally thought it would be a great idea to finally visit his best friend after he found out that he was accepted to a prestigious Ivy League college, and his reaction to Dick cradling a baby in his arms was, “Yo, dude, who’s kid is that?”  
  
Which then lead to his discovery of the existence of Damian, and the mockery. Lots and lots of mockery.  
  
Which then lead to crying.  
  
Wait, what?  
  
“Ahh, shit.”  
  
_Ahh, shit indeed._  
  
-  
  
One week after the… incident, he found a little package in his mail. It was neatly wrapped in brown paper and had no traces of explosives in it, so he took it upstairs.  
  
Well, it wasn’t that significant of an incident, just Damian ruining his favourite Robin onesie because he’d accidentally bumped his head onto Wally’s nose, making it bleed profusely.  
  
He had a good day at work, surprisingly. Ever since Commissioner Gordon found out about his current situation, he’s been put in desk duty until further notice, which he thought would be boring until he found out that it wasn’t.  
  
But that’s a story for another day, the core focus here is the random package that he got in the mail, with a small note that read:  
  
“Bruce, his birthday is on the 9th of Egherst?” Dick read out loud, wait a second, “August! Wow, I can read.”  
  
He opened it to see a baby book, bound in natural linen and tied on the sides in a real classy way. Huh, this is strange.  
  
The first page had all the little details, including semi detailed drawings of a test tube. Huh, Dick thought, Guess the kid didn’t come out of Talia’s vagina. Then there were doodles of what looked sort of like a baby on the images tab, with the same horrible handwriting littering the ‘About Mom and Dad’ section, as well as the ‘Family Tree’ section.  
  
He found the ‘Mom’ section amusing, too amusing for it to actually be written by Talia herself. Plus, there was no way the woman would willingly write ‘grew up in a test tube’ and litter the entire section with large question marks. But the greatest hidden message was the one written all the way in the back, where it read.  
  
_Damian, hope Daddy Bats is treating you well. Talia pretty much programmed you to be a super-genius and I bet he’s gonna love you as much as he did Dickiebird. You deserve so much more than what Talia wanted you to be._  
  
~~Love~~  
  
Dick couldn’t make out the signature.  
  
But those nicknames. They sound… familiar.  
  
-  
  
After two hours of making sure Damian doesn’t fall off the Diaper table while he tries to dress him for bed, ignoring the mini-tantrums as Dick put him in the light blue bunny onesie that Wally sent to him as a peace offering, pacifying him and tucking him in his crib, Dick decided to examine the baby book and add some little details.  
  
Well, he wrote ‘Dada’ as Damian’s first word and proceeded to sit in his living room debating on putting Dami’s last name as ‘Grayson’, ‘Grayson-Wayne’, ‘Wayne’, or just ‘Wayne-Grayson’. Technically Dami’s his son now, even though he’s still waiting on Oracle to give him the official documents as declaratory evidence of Dami’s existence.  
  
Sure, all the vomit, baby shit and tantrums should be evidence enough, but baby shit is expensive and he’d rather make sure that he could get the kid some semblance of a health insurance so at least he could still get him shit.  
  
He fell asleep before he could decide.  
  
He woke up to Damian’s screaming.  
  
Again.  
  
-  
  
“If you change your mind, you can keep him,” Dick said, preparing to squirt the entire can of CoolWhip straight into his mouth, “He shat on me twice.”  
  
Bruce rolled his eyes, “Stop being melodramatic.”  
  
“When you stop brooding,” Dick shot back, “Also his birthday’s on the 9th of August.”  
  
“How did you-?”  
  
“Someone sent me his baby book,” Dick shrugged, “So, he’s like, 2, right?”  
  
“18 months.”  
  
“Yeah, but when you round that to the nearest integer you get 2 years.”  
  
“No,” Bruce said, “When you round that to the nearest year, you get one year. Because 18 months is closer to a year than it is to 2,” the older man explained, “Good to know I sent you to the best schools for you to be dumb.”  
  
“18 months is one and a half, B,” Dick groaned, “1.5 rounded to the nearest integer is 2.”  
  
18 months. Huh. That means he was 6 months old when they got him. Cool.  
  
“How’s WITSEC boy?”  
  
Bruce gave him a stern look, “He has a name, Dick.”  
  
“Which, I would know if he would just. I don’t know, leave his room, maybe?” Dick grumbled, “Just a suggestion, obviously. Of course, I’m proud of you, B, you refuse to raise your son yet you’re taking in this random kid from WITSEC.”  
  
“He’s not a random kid from WITSEC,” Bruce explained, “And I volunteered. Damian just, came out of nowhere and I’m still not ready.”  
  
Dick groaned, “I’m starting to think the only reason why you took me and Jason in was because we were already pre-grown into preteens,” he mumbled, “Are you going to take Dami away when he’s like, 13? That’s when Jay started being Robin, right?”  
  
“Do not bring Jason into this.”  
  
Dick proceeded to squirt the entire can of CoolWhip into his mouth.  
  
-  
  
He had his toothbrush in his mouth and Damian cradled on his left arm, multitasking as he’s already late for work. Plus, the stupid babysitter that he called has not replied to any of his messages, which is a double whammy if you ask him. It was way worse when he heard a knock on his door and he had to come up with a quick outfit to hide his Nightwing costume.  
  
He struggled, as Damian whined when he had to put the infant down so he could rush on the Superman hoodie that he got ironically to piss off Bruce and wrestle on some sweatpants. He didn’t even notice that he hadn’t buzzed whoever the fuck was in front of his door up, meaning that they either stole Alfred’s spare key to his apartment or just managed to sneak into the building.  
  
He was shocked to see WITSEC boy when he opened the door, but then realised that he was possibly old enough to be left alone with an infant, and if the shitty babysitter wont answer, whoever the fuck this kid would do.  
  
“Hey, I got the-“  
  
Dick cut him off, “Cool,” he snatched the envelope from the shorter boy’s hand, “Can you do me a massive favour and watch over Dami for me?”  
  
“I-Em, I’m not very-“  
  
“He won’t bite!” Dick assured him, “He’s like, 2, so he won’t cause any trouble.”  
  
Dick dragged the boy into his apartment, picked up Damian who proceeded to giggle in his arms, and handed the infant to the confused WITSEC boy.  
  
“B says you’re smart so you probably know how to operate the intercom and how to order pizza. I have money in the key bowl if you ever get hungry. Don’t even try to cook because I haven’t restocked on anything that’s not baby food in over two months. Wifi is Grayson Enterprises and the password is man-eater 52. All lowercase, no hyphens.”  
  
“But-“  
  
“Bye, WITSEC boy, bye Baby Bat,” Dick kissed little Damian’s temple before running outside the balcony.  
  
“It’s Tim!”  
  
-  
  
Patrol was quiet. Too quiet.  
  
He assumes its because Batman’s done most of his work, considering that’s all he’s been doing over the past couple of months since Damian came into the picture.  
  
But there was something off about this, something pretty confusing.  
  
He can’t put a finger on it.  
  
When he climbed back up the fire escape, he saw that Damian was snuggled up to WITSEC boy’s hoodie, which made him want to coo in adoration. However, he knew how much of a pain Dami was when he’s forcefully woken up from his slumber, so he opted on taking out his phone from his pocket and snapping a picture of them together.  
  
“This is soo going into the family group chat,” he whispered to himself.  
  
Well, the remnants of the family group chat, anyway.  
  
He wondered if WITSEC boy was in it. Knowing Bruce, he probably added the boy as soon as he stepped into the manor.  
  
He’d never let the kid go into the bat cave, but he’s probably in the family group chat.  
  
Dick debated on quickly getting changed and tucking Dami into his crib as well as putting a blanket over WITSEC boy since the kid looked cold, but he decided against that since he’s too tired to care. He took a blanket from the cupboard and placed it over the two sleeping boys, before going into his room and immediately falling asleep on the bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not very well versed in DC, but I hope you like this chapter. Most of the details I got from reading up on some DC comics with the characters, watching the entire thing of the DC Animated Justice League series (incl Young Justice. Also, can we talk about Dick's sunglasses in season one? He could've gotten fake as glasses and done a Clark Kent but nooo wear those glasses instead (no offence to people who actually like his glasses though tbh)), and looking up some stuff from google and multiple Wikis. This story's not gonna focus on Dick as Nightwing patrolling and stuff but mostly Dick as a Dad, so I'm kinda excited to share the future chapters with you guys and like see whether or not my personal interpretation of Dad!Dick is good enough in your eyes.
> 
> I'm also an AO3 noob who has no idea how to write an authors note on the first chapter (or i did but forgot idk man)
> 
> I took Tim's origins from the New 52 Teen Titans, since he's like a gymnast with parents in WITSEC. Dick's kind of a dick to him but meh he'll probably warm up to him eventually.
> 
> What do you think, though? Should Damian's name be Grayson, Grayson-Wayne, Wayne or Wayne-Grayson? I kinda wanted to put it in as Grayson since Bruce is a brooding mess who doesn't want to be Dami's dad in the first place (in this story) but i'm not sure. Also, what's his canon middle name?? I can't seem to find it anywhere and what's Dick gonna call him when he's like older and being a bitch? Let me know if you know in the comments! I'm considering a couple of stuff but all of them are just bleh and I'm happy for suggestions!
> 
> psst also if you read any of my other stories you will know that the updates will be very inconsistent. Just wanted to let y'all know. I am, however, nearly done with this story so it should hopefully not take long.


	3. Year One, Month Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damian: 19 months  
> Dick: 19 years  
> Month: March

Dick takes pride in possibly being the only parent that has had their child slap him pretty hard across the face. So hard, that he has a tiny red handprint on his face, and a giddy toddler in his arms.  
  
“You think that’s funny, don’t cha?” Dick grinned, “Well it ain’t, on my side, anyway.”  
  
“Love you, Daddy,” Damian giggled.  
  
“Love you, too, Dami,” he smiled.  
  
-  
  
The one thing that he noticed about Damian was the fact that he can talk, has superhuman strength and is really, really smart, but is not developing properly as an infant. Surely at nearly 2 years of age he’d be walking by now. Dick doesn’t know, and frankly, he likes seeing the little kid reach upwards whenever he wishes to be moved to a specific location. He’s cute.  
  
The kid had Bruce’s eyes, in which he uses to his advantage because it’s a similar shade of blue as his. People don’t notice that the kid that he keeps carrying around is actually the biological son of the richest man in Gotham, no, they just think that its the son of the adoptive son of the richest man in Gotham. Sometimes the paps stop him to talk about his new infant child, and how he’s managed to hide him from the press. He usually responds with sipping his Starbucks and walking away.  
  
When Damian decides to walk, though, it took him by surprise.  
  
He was lying in bed on his laptop, going on a youtube spiral when he noticed that the infant was standing right beside him, frowning as deeply as his little mouth could.  
  
Dick freaked, nearly dropping his laptop when he’d realised that Damian had managed to somehow get out of his crib and walk all the way to his room without him noticing.  
  
This kid is a serious freaking ninja.  
  
“Sup, kiddo?”  
  
“Dami hurt,” the kid whines, “Daddy.”  
  
“Where?”  
  
Damian pointed at his cheek.  
  
“Okay, open your mouth,” Dick said in response, which made the infant open his mouth wide for him to see. He grabbed his miniature flashlight that he keeps in a secret compartment on his bedside and began examining.  
  
Damian’s been teething for a while now, with some of them not phasing him even a little bit like his central and lateral incisors, and the random appearance of his canine teeth even though all the baby books say that he might not even develop them until his 22nd month. Dick noticed the tips of the little boy’s first molar, which made his whining somewhat justifiable in a way.  
  
“Your teeth’s coming out,” Dick noted, adding a little more detail on the tooth chart that he’d managed to slip into Dami’s baby book, “It’s gonna hurt for a while, want some ice cream?”  
  
Damian eagerly nodded, “Dami want strawberry!” 

Dick raised his eyebrow, “I thought you didn’t like strawberry.”  
  
“Uncle Timmy strawberry!”  
  
Dick chuckled, “Okay then, let’s go get some ice cream.”  
  
-  
  
Dick let Damian play around with Alfred as he hunts for yet another can of CoolWhip to devour, since having CoolWhip in his own place could lead to a disaster involving Damian and acting like he could use it to look like what he calls ‘Daddy White Beard’. Of course, he’s referring to Dick whenever he shaves, but that’s beside the point. The point is, he does not have the financial support to buy CoolWhip just so Damian could use it as pseudo shaving cream.  
  
“I thought you were supposed to be the responsible adult.”  
  
Dick scoffed, “Tell that to the guy who made me raise his kid,” he retorted, “Sup, WITSEC?”  
  
Tim rolled his eyes, “My name is Tim.”  
  
“I knew that,” Dick said with a mouthful of whipped cream, “Why is it that every time I go to the manor to steal Bruce’s CoolWhip I get lectured?”  
  
“Maybe because you’re not stealing Bruce’s CoolWhip, you’re stealing mine,” Tim pointed out, “Alfred let me pick out stuff from the store and I wrote my initials under there.”  
  
Dick let out a _‘phhst’_ , “It’s B’s house, everything in his fridge is property of the grand high bitch himself, Bruce Wayne. And, of course, is available at any time, for me, Richard John Grayson.”  
  
Tim let out a small chuckle, “Alright, that means I can eat the cake slice with the tupperware with your name on it, right?”  
  
Dick let out a melodramatic gasp, “How could you?”  
  
They laughed in unison after that, and honestly, he liked the fact that he’s able to laugh with someone after the grand tragedy of the past couple of years.  
  
-  
  
He looked at the printed birth certificate and frowned. He had no idea why he didn’t interject when he could have, but because of his laziness he decided, hey, maybe Bruce and Barbara can be trusted with the name of his official, legal son.  
  
He was wrong.  
  
“Damian Arthur Robert Thomas Henry Wayne Grayson?” he raised his eyebrow, “Five middle names? What is this, England in the 1960s?”  
  
He grabbed his phone and immediately dialled Barbara’s number, and when she picked up, he immediately grumbled, “I can’t believe Damian likes you.”  
  
He could hear her laughing really hard, like as if she was sitting on a chair and is about to fall off said chair, similarly in those shitty cartoons from the 90s.  
  
“You gave him four middle names?!”  
  
_“Bruce, Alfred, and I couldn’t decide and Tim mumbled something along the lines of ‘why not all of them?’ so we did all of them,”_ she giggled.  
  
_“I did not say that! I said I hated all of them!”_ he heard Tim scream in the background.  
  
“I blame all of you for this,” Dick groaned, “How am I supposed to fill in forms for him if he has so many fucking middle names?!”  
  
He bets a million bucks that Barbara is smiling right now, _“If it makes you feel better, his initials spell out DARTHWG, could be misheard as Darthwing, which makes him the perfect candidate for your future sidekick.”_  
  
“I don’t need a sidekick! What the fuck is wrong with you?!”  
  
_“Have you seen what we put under ‘Mother’?”_  
  
He looked at the birth certificate again, “Monica Odeline McAdams,” _Wow,_ he thought, “You’re not even trying.”  
  
_“Hey, at least he has a first and last name now.”_  
  
“And five middle names. And a mother who has ‘M. O. M’ as initials. Is she even a real person?!”  
  
_“Of course, died like three days after Damian’s birthdate. Car accident. Perfect cover. Unless, you want us to change it to ‘Talia al Ghul’?”_ Barbara chuckled.  
  
“No, just fix the middle names, please?”  
  
_“Roger that, Dickface.”_  
  
“Thanks Babs.”  
  
-  
  
Bruce didn’t only make him raise his only biological son, but he also made him train Timothy Jackson Drake so he could be the next Robin.  
  
Why does he have to do all of Bruce’s dirty work?  
  
It’s kind of awesome that Tim already has prior gymnastics training, so he didn’t have to deal with all the flexibility shit, but the fighting? Good lord, his parents were rich enough to enrol him in Gotham Academy, but didn’t even bother to drag his scrawny ass to martial arts class so he could at least have some semblance of self defence?  
  
They were sparring when Dick heard the teenager mumble, “I wanted to name him Zaffre.”  
  
Dick stopped to look at him and raise his eyebrow, “What the fuck is Zaffre?”  
  
“It’s a-a shade of blue,” Tim answered, hesitantly, “I dunno, I thought it’d be interesting.”  
  
“It is,” Dick responded, “Why?”  
  
“B-because your suit has blue in it,” Tim said, “I mean, it was either that or Regulus.”  
  
“That’s even more interesting,” Dick nodded, “Like Sirius Black’s brother in Harry Potter?”  
  
Tim shook his head, “Like the brightest star in the constellation Leo. Y’know, since he’s a Leo?” he explained, “I gave them like a whole list, Zaffre, Regulus, Antoine, y’know, middle names that wouldn’t be boring and had really deep meanings. Well, Zaffre doesn’t really have a deep meaning, I just really like the colour, but Regulus means ruler and Antoine means high praise or something and it’s like the French version of Anthony so you could use that instead and-“  
  
“Stop,” Dick said as he put his hand on Tim's mouth and shrugged, “I like Anthony.”  
  
-  
  
The greatest thing about arguing with Bruce about Damian’s middle names was the fact that Dick won by a coin toss.  
  
“Why didn't you keep the names that we’d given you, Richard?”  
  
“Because I won the coin toss fair and square,” Dick stuck his tongue out, “Besides, his name was a whole fucking paragraph long and Tim is obviously the only sane person in this household, despite all the stalking, and his suggestion was a good one.”  
  
Bruce frowned, “We will send you the updated birth certificate as soon as possible.”  
  
Dick grinned, “Thanks, B.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I planned 26 chapters of this
> 
> 26 chapters of Dick Grayson struggling™
> 
> Obviously I'm not even at the 26 chapter mark, but we'll get there eventually.
> 
> Also, the gag about his 7 billion middle names comes from this article [here ](http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2015/05/why-do-some-brits-have-multiple-middle-names), the one where the guy's daughter was named after the entire Liverpool team. I thought it was funny so I put it in. Idk.
> 
> Coin toss thing was based off a true story. I have two middle names and if my mum would've won the coin toss I'd be a normal person with one middle name.


	4. Year One, Month Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damian: 20 months  
> Dick: 19  
> Month: April

Timothy Drake turns out to be a great investment to the Wayne family.  
  
“What do you want for dinner, Baby Bat?” Dick asked his toddler who was strapped onto the child seat of the shopping cart.  
  
“Dino nuggs!” he squealed in response, “Dami want Dino nuggs!”  
  
He raised his eyebrow, “Dino nuggs? Why not regular nuggs?”  
  
Or real food that’s not a part of the list of foods that he eats as comfort food. He bets it’s Babs’ fault.  
  
“Aunty Babs give Dami some,” he smiled, “It good.”  
  
Knew it.  
  
He would give himself a self five if it didn’t make him look like even more of an asshole.  
  
Tim gave him a list of things that a baby Damian’s age should be eating, since applesauce and puree’d vegetables is apparently not a suitable diet for a 20 month old baby. He was excited to see baby biscuits because he loved snacking on those, but then remembered that he can’t eat much of them because he had to feed them to the baby.  
  
Damian looked slightly skinnier, and he cries louder whenever he had to leave him with either Alfred, Tim, or Babs for patrol, depending on who’s available. He liked Tim the most, surprisingly enough, maybe because the brunet resembled him the most. Sort of.  
  
“What about ice cream? Still keen on strawberry?”  
  
Damian shook his head violently, guess he’s sick of the store-bought ice cream Dick’s been giving him. He does like the one that Tim makes, and he always brings a fresh container that Dami will devour whenever he does.  
  
“Chocolate?”  
  
Head shake, no.  
  
“Vanilla?”  
  
The kid smiled.  
  
“You’re boring, Baby Bats,” he chuckled, grabbing a pint of vanilla for Dami and cookie dough for himself. He needed to stock up his comfort food fridge, maybe change the passkey so Babs can’t steal his dinosaur nuggets to feed his son.  
  
He took out his phone and set a reminder to yell at her after they’re done.  
  
Tim’s list was extremely comprehensive. So comprehensive that the teen put it in categories, wrote down the brands that would be good for Damian as well as allergy notices as the boy made Bruce give Damian an allergy test to make sure he wasn’t allergic to anything.  
  
He started with pasta, because everyone loves pasta. He got Dami a can of Spaghetti-o’s and a couple of boxes of different shaped Macaroni and Cheese, as well as the proper pasta that he has to cook like Spaghetti, Penne and the shell stuff that Tim said ‘would make dinnertime a fun time’. He also got some cheerios for Damian and Lucky Charms for his stash, because Damian is young and needs nutrition, whereas Dick is basically a granddad who deserves all the love and sugar he could get. He got the staple fruits that he likes so if Damian hates it he could eat them, like strawberries, apples, and kiwi. He’s not sure about grapes, so he decided against that, and he hated Honeydew so he’d rather not. He made sure all the dairy products were safe for Damian, and got string cheese because it’s a fun piece of cheese. He doesn’t care if Damian shouldn’t be eating fun cheese, fun cheese makes for fun meals.  
  
When he saw the total amount in the cashier, he reluctantly took out his credit card, making sure that it was the one that’s on Bruce’s payroll so he doesn’t have to pay for it himself.  
  
“Your son’s really cute,” the cashier girl smiled, “What’s your name?”   
Damian stared at her for a prolonged amount of time, which made her giggle, “I’m Sarah.”  
  
“I’m Dami,” Damian responded, “That Daddy.”  
  
Dick wanted to melt into a puddle because God Damn he’ll never get used to this ‘Daddy at 19’ business.  
  
-  
  
“If I quit my job, will you financially support me for raising your son?” Dick asked Bruce as he looked for a can of CoolWhip.  
  
He needed the CoolWhip, okay, it’s essential.  
  
“Depends,” Bruce said, “If you don’t waste the money on weird shit, then sure.”  
  
“I was thinking of getting new clothes,” Dick said, “For Dami, I mean, I feel like he should wear something that actually fits.”  
  
“The little suit that I picked out for him fits.”  
  
Dick rolled his eyes, “Yeah, but it’s a suit,” he said, “I mean, what about little sweatpants and like I dunno, stuff from _Guess Kids_?”  
  
Bruce raised his eyebrow, “You wanna dress him in ‘Guess Kids’? I thought you were enjoying stuff from _Target, H &M _and _GAP_?”  
  
“But I want my kid to look dapper as fuck, y’know?” Dick said, “I saw this leather jacket from Guess Kids, it’s pretty awesome looking and I’d like to see lil Dami rock that. All he wears is plaid, bodysuits and miscellaneous onesies. How am I supposed to show up at the park with the coolest kid ever when he dresses like that?”  
  
Bruce proceeded to take out his wallet and hand his eldest a platinum credit card with Dick’s name on it, “I’ll pay the bill for anything you charge on this one.”  
  
Dick couldn’t find any CoolWhip.  
  
“As for the job issue, Commissioner Gordon is willing to let you go and offer you the same job when you’re ready. You are allowed to not patrol, but you have to be there when you are summoned in emergency situations. Alfred is available for last minute baby sitting if that ever happens. Your apartment and bills are now covered by Wayne enterprises, so don’t need to worry about that.”  
  
Dick nodded, “Okay, but what about the CoolWhip?”  
  
“First cabinet door on the left, Master Richard,” Alfred smiled.  
  
-  
  
“Do you wanna get some clothes, Dami boy?”  
  
Damian giggled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just realised that Alfred hasn't said anything lol


	5. Year One, Month Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damian: 21 months  
> Dick: 19  
> Month: May

He got Damian’s new and improved birth certificate, which made him incredibly pleased because at least he doesn’t have to suffer with the five middle names that Bruce and Babs decided to chuck at him.  
  
Damian’s 2nd Birthday is getting closer and closer by the month. Granted, it’s the toddler’s 21st month of existence this month, but in three months, Damian’s gonna be two, and he’s gonna need potty training.  
  
Dick’s not looking forward to that at all, but frankly, he could just procrastinate and do it when Dami reaches 3. Some parents do that, right?  
  
Right?  
  
Probably.  
  
“Damian please eat your vegetables,” he sighed, “I’m begging you, please, please, please, please, _please._ ”  
  
“Dami don’t like greenies!”  
  
“But you like green apples?”  
  
“These yucky!” Damian whined, “Dami want something else.”  
  
Dick debated on calling Tim, because he knows Bruce is sure as hell useless when it comes to these kinds of things. As he said before, all his kids are already pre-grown into pre-teens/teens. He started being Robin at the age of 10 and Bruce took him in at the age of 9. Jason started being Robin at the age of 13, and Bruce took him in at the age of 11. Tim’s like, 14 now, and he’s probably gonna start being Robin at 15 and he’s been living in the manor since he was 13ish. He wonders how the boy knows so much about childcare. Dick remembered being his age and being so weirded out the first time he saw a baby. The first time he saved one, he slung it on his shoulders, which earned him a slap in the face and a chorus of yelling from its angry mother. He doesn’t remember what gender the baby was, and it was his first week of being Nightwing as well, which sucked balls.  
  
“If you don’t eat your veggies, I’m gonna call Uncle Timmy,” he threatened, “And he’s gonna stop bringing you those pints of delicious homemade strawberry ice cream that you like.”  
  
“No!” Dami screeched, immediately grabbing his plastic baby fork and shoving the little bite sized carrots and peas in his mouth.  
  
“Careful, Baby Bat, don’t choke,” Dick told him, slightly worried at the fast pace of the vegetable consumption.  
  
“Don’t call Uncle Timmy,” Damian mumbled with his mouth full of vegetables. “Pwease.”  
  
_Oh my god,_ Dick thought, _I can’t. The cuteness. I can not._  
  
Dick hugged the little child and started tearing up because _holy shit children._  
  
-  
  
“You are not allowed to steal our CoolWhip, Richard.”  
  
Dick whined, “But, but-“  
  
“They’re Tim’s. Stop taking them from the fridge,” Bruce scolded him.  
  
“But Damian keeps taking them and using it as makeshift shaving cream!”  
  
Bruce rolled his eyes, chuckling slightly, “I remember when you used to do that.”  
  
Dick raised his eyebrow, “Use CoolWhip as shaving cream?”  
  
“No,” Bruce smiled, holy shit Bruce Wayne is showing emotion, “Using shaving cream on your ice cream thinking that it was CoolWhip.”  
  
_What the fuck?!_  
  
“Why didn't you stop me?! Wasn't I like, 9?! I can't believe I don't remember this," Dick tangled his hands onto his hair, " Wait a sec, how the fuck do you have so many children?! You nearly killed one of them on your first go!”  
  
"First week of living with me and you didn't notice that I'd accidentally put my shaving cream in the fridge," Bruce explained.

"Who the fuck puts shaving cream in the fridge?!"

"In his defense, Master Richard," Alfred said as he walked in with Bruce's coffee/tea/whatever hot beverage was inside the mug that he was carrying, "Master Bruce had a full night of crime fighting, you were lucky you weren't there when he fell asleep with ham on his face in the bathtub."

Bruce smiled slightly as Dick stared at him, absolutely astonished on how terrible Bruce was as a parent, scowling slightly as the elder shrugged, “I did replace your ice cream and top it off with real CoolWhip before you put it in your mouth.”  
  
“No, Master Bruce,” Alfred interjected, “You kept laughing at the fact that Master Richard has put a dollop of your shaving cream onto his ice cream. I took responsibility in making sure he didn’t die, or at least get shaving cream poisoning.”  
  
Dick scoffed, “Glad to know I was loved.”  
  
_“Haven’t you heard? You’re his favourite.”_  
  
-  
  
He hated baby cartoons. Absolutely despised it.  
  
If he had to watch another episode of Little Einsteins, he might shoot himself.  
  
But Dami likes it for some reason. He prefers the Backyardigans, obviously.  
  
“Again, Daddy! Again!”  
  
Dick groaned, “Aren’t you sick of it, Baby Bat?”  
  
Dami smiled with his giant eyes, “Nup!”  
  
“Don’t you want to watch something else?”  
  
“Nup! Widdle Einsteins!”  
  
“If I give you dino nuggs, will you let Daddy watch something else?”  
  
Damian’s baby blues sparkled.  
  
Dino nuggets always work.  
  
-  
  
It was bring-your-toddler-to-Sparring-day-so-he-could-see-Uncle-Timmy-get-beat-up. Alfred set up a little baby play pen for little Damian to sit so he wont be lonely when Dick had to go train Tim. Plus, he despised his babysitter. Dick thought she was a nice girl with a good education, Damian thought she was trying to ‘replace his mommy’. Which doesn’t make any sense because there was no way Damian remembers her at all.  
  
Of course, there was no way Dick would ever consider her. She looked too much like a Kori wannabe, with her dyed hair and Starfire merchandise. He’d much rather go for Betty, the 30 year old woman who hit on him right next to the dairy isle and gave him her number in a playing card.  
  
Fucking weird, if he does say so himself.  
  
“Your fighting skills have gotten better, Timbo,” Dick praised, “But you’re using too much power. Be more agile and use less force. Being Robin means being resourceful, agile, and tactical. We don’t use brute force.”  
  
Tim was pretty much out of breath and extremely fatigued, while Damian, the blasted baby, started giggling and clapping.  
  
“Again! Again! Again!”  
  
Aww, “Lookie, Timbo, Baby Dami likes seeing you get beat up Daddy,” Dick cooed, walking straight towards the baby cage to pinch Dami’s cheeks, “Yes you do, don’t you?”  
  
Tim raised his eyebrow, “Is that a challenge?”  
  
Dick didn’t answer, so Tim just straight up kicked the older man on the back.  
  
“That’s for constantly stealing my CoolWhip.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soz for the delay, my ex came over and wanted to get back together and i was like 'yeah nah'
> 
> i'll make it up by updating twice so this is my first update of the day


	6. Year One, Month Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damian: 22 months  
> Dick: 19  
> Month: June

Dick hates himself, really, he does.  
  
All the parenting books are no help at all, and Dr. Thompkins is not a paediatrician so everything in his life sucks now. It’s all because of Ida and her stupid daughter. Who the fuck lets a sick five year old near a 2 year old in a stroller? Who the fuck? And what kind of five year old gets a flu in June? How the fuck? How does that work?  
  
“Daddy, Dami hurt,” the kid whined.  
  
Okay, baby book says to use the nasal aspirator to get all of the snot out. But what the fuck is a nasal aspirator? He’s never seen one in his life.  
  
He immediately dialled his favourite 14-year-old with all the baby knowledge and started whining, “Help, Dami’s sick and I don’t know what a nasal aspirator is.”  
  
_“You idiot.”_  
  
“In my defence, Dami has never needed one.”  
  
_“I thought you got a bag full of baby goodies from Babies"R"Us the first week you got Damian. Did you not get yourself a nasal aspirator?”_  
  
“It wasn’t on the list of the baby shit I needed.”  
  
_“How have you been getting Damian’s boogers out, then?”_  
  
“Saline solution and a cotton bud.”  
  
Tim paused, and after getting to know and learning the younger teen’s mannerisms during his stay with the Wayne-Graysons in his WITSEC programme, he knows that he’s probably making the how-the-fuck-are-you-still-alive face. Or, at least, that’s what Dick calls that face. It’s more like a mixture of a scowl, a confused face, and the look of ultimate desperation. _“How the fuck?”_  
  
“I’ve literally never seen or used a nasal aspirator.”  
  
_“Dick, what the hell, how is Damian still alive?”_  
  
“His nose is never stuffy! I dunno! Maybe it’s the genetic engineering done by Talia!”  
  
Tim groaned, _“I’ll bring the emergency baby kit.”_  
  
-  
  
“Stop snacking on Damian’s baby biscuits,” Tim scolded, “Did you check his temperature?”  
  
Dick shook his head, no, well he didn’t have those fancy ear thermometers since most of the ones he could find were Celsius and he’s too lazy to convert it into Fahrenheit to know temperatures. Tim looked at him with venom in his eyes as he cradled the sick Damian in his arms, before taking out one of those fancy ear thermometers.  
  
Yes! He knew calling Tim was a good idea!  
  
“Hold still, Dami,” Tim whispered softly to soothe him, “This might feel weird, but we need to know how hot you are.”  
  
The kid whined.  
  
The thermometer beeped.  
  
“104,” Tim read, “Call a doctor.”  
  
“I don’t-“  
  
Tim groaned, before taking out his cell and dialling some random number, “Hi, can you please make me an emergency appointment to a paediatrician? Under Damian Grayson, please.”  
  
-  
  
“Are you both his siblings?” the doctor, Dr. Jameson, asked.  
  
Dick shook his head, quickly, “Dami’s my son, Doctor.”  
  
“Huh, never expected a boy your age would take responsibility like this,” more like, _forced to so he had to also the kid has the most adorable baby blue eyes_ , “Dick Grayson, you’re Bruce’s boy, aren’t you?”  
  
“Yes sir,” Dick smiled, _so’s this kid, but you’ll never know since Bruce has no sense of responsibility when it comes to infants._  
  
“Damian has a high fever of 104,” Tim briefly explained, “He has a flu as well, his nose is blocked and he was sneezing all the way.”  
  
“Have you tried sucking out all the mucus?”  
  
Tim nodded, “It didn’t stop the blockage.”  
  
“When did this first start happening?”  
  
Dick shrugged, “I took him to the park three days ago and he only started whining today.”  
  
Tim smacked him in the shoulder, “You didn’t check his temperature or see if he’s about to get sick so you could prevent this mess?!”  
  
“Stop scolding me, I’m a first time single father of one and I’m 19 years old.”  
  
“Your age has nothing to do with the fact that you’re being irresponsible and you could’ve gotten Damian killed!”  
  
Dick pouted, “I called you, though.”  
  
The doctor coughed awkwardly, “Do you think he’s responsible enough to give Damian medicine?” he asked, “Damian’s current weight is 23 pounds, which is normal for a child his age. We’ll give him 3.75 ml’s of acetaminophen, or Tylenol, whichever name you prefer. I feel acetaminophen makes it sound like some drug you make in a meth lab.” the doctor joked, Dick would laugh at that, if only Tim wasn't staring daggers at the man. Well, joking about meth isn't something common for a doctor to do, but Dick found it funny. The doctor's funny, and he's easy on the eyes.

Double whammy.

The doctor coughed awkwardly, “I’d suggest getting the grape one, since my son really likes that one specifically when he’s sick, measure it in a syringe and carefully squirt it into his mouth. If you don’t want to do that, you can use a spoon, but measure it first.”

 _Son?_ Aw, man the dude's straight. Or gay with a son. Or a single dad.

Dick noticed a ring and frowned, _dammit he has a partner._  
  
“How many times?” Tim asked, taking responsibility like he always does.  
  
“The instructions say every four hours, I think, but you’re not allowed to give him more than 5 doses in a 24 hour period,” the doctor explained, “If the fever doesn’t reduce in three days, or even if anything else happens, call me.”  
  
The doctor gave Dick his name card. _Derek Jameson. Nice._  
  
-  
  
Damian was slightly cooperative for the first day, he wasn’t as whiny and he’d accept the soup that Dick’s made for him. He refused to take the medicine, though, even though it’s actually pretty delicious. Yes, Dick tried it, but that’s only because Damian refused to take it because the liquid was all ‘weird’.  
  
“Damian, it’s gonna make you better,” Dick pleaded, “C’mon, baby, it’s not that bad. I tried it and it’s actually pretty good.”  
  
“Daddy like all gross.”  
  
Dick was slightly offended, “I promise this tastes really nice.”  
  
The baby shook his head.  
  
Dick thought of using his secret weapon, which was calling Tim and using it as blackmail to get Damian to do anything. For some reason the baby loved Tim, and Tim loved him back. Of course he would. Damian’s fucking adorable.  
  
He took out his phone straight in front of Damian and heard the little baby screech a small, “No!”  
  
He won.  
  
-  
  
Second day, Damian was getting better. His fever reduced to 100 degrees, which is an improvement, nonetheless.  
  
He used Tim’s fancy thermometer because he can’t be bothered to go back to Babies”R”Us to get one. He’d very much rather chill and play Mortal Kombat, since he hasn’t done that in like, three years. Wally doesn’t like Mortal Kombat as much as he does, and the redhead finds it odd that Dick loves that game as it is so out of character for him to like it. Wally always said that it seemed more like a ‘Jason’ thing, that conversation usually ends with Dick being uncharacteristically quiet for the rest of the day, sulking with a tub of ice cream in his room.  
  
He hates being reminded of Jason, makes him feel worse that he couldn’t get himself to be strong enough to attend the funeral.  
  
But that’s in the past now, he has to focus on making sure Damian feels better.  
  
-  
  
Day three and four went like this.  
  
Damian jumped out of his crib to Dick’s bedroom like the first time the kid learned how to walk and scared the shit out of him, saying that he’s all better now before giving Dick a massive hug and a sloppy kiss on the cheek.  
  
Of course, it was confirmed by the thermometer.  
  
Then Dick found out that he had a flu, so he called Tim to barricade him from Damian so the baby doesn’t catch it again.  
  
On day five, Tim took Damian to get his flu shot and some other vaccines that the Doctor have noticed that Damian was missing from his health records while Dick was at home, pretty much dying.  
  
Goddammit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you liked these two chapters. we're only two months away from Dami's birthday yaay he's gonna be two
> 
> also poor sick baby dami and poor sick dick but dick deserves it he doesnt know what a nasal aspirator is and he has a baby what an asshole
> 
>  
> 
> ~~please dont read me saying dick is smart in the comics bc i know all the robins are smart that's why they're useful~~


	7. Year One, Month Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damian: 23 months  
> Dick: 19  
> Month: July

Tim insisted that they all needed to go to the zoo, especially since it’s Summer and he doesn’t have school and he’s bored at home with all of the tech that he’s been working on.  
  
Well, Dick insisted that they all needed to go to the zoo, Tim just whined because he apparently doesn’t have time to go to the zoo. Dick scolded him for being the worst teenager to ever exist, only dedicating his life to helping Dick make sure that he doesn’t accidentally kill Damian and develop tech for Batman and the Wayne Industries.  
  
Also train to be Robin, but that’s on Bruce. After what happened, he refused to let Tim step into Jason’s shoes without further training.  
  
Dick let Damian sit on his shoulders as the whole family walked along with them. Well, Bruce was too busy as always, but they had Tim and Babs, which is more than enough for Damian. Damian got so excited to see the penguins, maybe because he’s never been anywhere that’s not the park, Dick’s apartment, the Manor and/or the grocery store.  
  
“Daddy! Look! Look!”  
  
“Yes, Dami! Penguins!”  
  
“Pangwins?”  
  
Dick looked up to see the kid all scrunched up and confused, he started chuckling and making faces, “Yes, Dami, penguins. They’re birds, and they like, flop around and stuff.”  
  
“Do they fly?”  
  
“Nope.”  
  
“Why?”  
  
“Because the creator above decided to not make them fly,” Dick explained, scientifically of course, “They made them fat.”  
  
“But whattabout bees?” Dami asked, “They fat, but they fly.”  
  
“Bees are an exception, Dami boy,” Dick grinned, “Bees defy all rules of aviation because they don’t need to conform to what humans think about them.”  
  
“Did you just quote Bee Movie?” Tim uttered, “That is the worst thing I’ve ever seen you do. Please don’t. I can’t deal with this right now.”  
  
Dick grinned his with his ridiculously blinding white teeth.  
  
-  
  
Tim held Damian’s little hand as he insisted to walk by himself on some occasions. He had his camera with him, the big one he used for actual photography rather than the Mirrorless one he uses for stalking.  
  
Rephrase. He uses it for night time photography.  
  
Got him into trouble, but he got decent shots.  
  
Damian really liked the lion exhibit, for some reason, he keeps pointing at them and saying that he liked how big their hairs were. Dick, of course, as a true natural dad, found it absolutely adorable that the kid liked ‘Lion Afros’. Sometimes he wondered what would happen if Damian was never in his care in the first place.  
  
Would he grow up to be just like Talia? Or would he be just like Bruce?  
  
Would he be closed off with incredible fighting skills? Or would he be a small playboy who likes to brood and laugh at things that are not supposed to be funny, like nearly poisoning his first child with shaving cream. What the fuck is that?  
  
He feels like he’d probably be smarter with Talia, possibly because she has all the technology to make sure that happens. Damian was developed in a tube, so he’d probably be more similar to Conner. So, big brain, no social skills, and is pretty much broody all the time. Conner did get better, though, but that’s after all the teenaged angst he had to witness during his years as Robin as well as Nightwing. Conner makes really dumb dad jokes now, which he should probably learn so he could use it to embarrass Damian in the future.  
  
Hs’e not sure what Damian would be like if he was raised by Bruce. Sure, he’d have the best older brother in the world and Tim, and Alfred would probably be in charge of actually raising him. But he doubts Bruce would be there for him like he is for Damian. Jason’s death was awful, he wrote a vague little shitty note that took them ages to figure out, and when they did, they were too late. Dick saw the explosion happen right before his eyes. He was there, but Bruce told him to stay put so he could save Jason. When Bruce came back with the younger teen’s lifeless body in his arms, he knew that everything would be different.  
  
Bruce treated him differently after that.  
  
Maybe because he treated Jason quite awfully beforehand.  
  
That was about two years ago, maybe three.  
  
“Uncle Timmy, up!” Damian said.  
  
Tim sighed and picked up the small child, losing his balance slightly when he realised that the kid was quite heavy.  
  
“You’ve gotten fat, huh, Damian?” Tim joked.  
  
Dick groaned, not this again. “For the love of god, stop calling my child fat.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to post this yesterday but I had boyfriend drama so I didn't. sorry bout that haha
> 
> shorter chapter, but the next couple is a bit longer
> 
> send me all your nitpicks, might be helpful because i've been sloppy with my self beta


	8. Year One, Month Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damian: 24 months  
> Dick: 19  
> Month: August

What do you do for a two year old’s birthday when he has no friends?  
  
Invite the entire Justice League, of course.  
  
Dick knew that Damian was struggling in daycare on the days that Dick absolutely had to go to work. Even though most of his (Damian) expenses are paid by Bruce, he felt empty without a job, so he’d sometimes drop by his office to run some errands and say hi to Commissioner Gordon. Damian didn’t really have a lot of friends his age, well, he’s two so Dick didn’t expect him to, but he bites, apparently. He bites a lot.  
  
He made a four year old cry once, that was not a fun experience.  
  
With Damian’s lack of friends, he decided to invite Bruce’s adult friends and some of his. Wally doesn’t mind hanging out with Damian, even though Damian does because he bleed all over his first Robin suit. Roy has a kid, so maybe he could introduce them both. Maybe. Roy’s always been Jason’s friend, never Dick and Wally’s. Clark has Conner and Jon, so maybe they’ll turn up?  
  
No, they did not.  
  
Well, Wally did.  
  
“Happy birthday Baby Bird!” 

“I thought we agreed on Baby Bats.”  
  
Wally shrugged, “He’s yours, though, and you’re pretty much a bird,” he laughed, “Stop frowning, Dami, how many times does Uncle Wally have to apologise? Plus, I got you presents.” 

Damian hesitated and couldn’t open the packaging, which resulted in a small childish whine that lead to Wally's chuckles and Dick immediately getting up to inspect the packaging. Of course he couldn't open it, his hands were too small and weak to even slightly damage the ridiculous Wally West style of packaging, where everything is double wrapped with paper and cellophane for some reason. Dick went to the kitchen to grab some scissors and cut it open, before revealing a costume accurate Robin onesie as well as several different ones, like a replica of Wally’s and Dick’s Nightwing suit.  
  
“It even has a panty clasp thinggy so you don’t have to take off his entire outfit to change him!”  
  
“Do you seriously think I still buy those onesies?”  
  
“I know for a fact that Damian likes them better because they don’t chafe him as much?”  
  
Dick sighed, “Etsy?”  
  
“Yep.”  
  
Meanwhile Damian was elated, so much so that he said, “Dami want Daddy suit.”  
  
In reflex, Dick pulled out the onesie replica of Bruce’s batman suit, to which Damian responded with, “Dami don’t want Grampa’s suit.”  
  
Which resulted in a chorus of loud and obnoxious Wally West style laughter. “Can you imagine that, though? Granddaddy Bruce?”  
  
“Fuck off, Wallace.”  
  
-  
  
Tim was late, which was uncharacteristic of him because he’s never really late. He looked slightly dishevelled, though, so Dick knew why, which made him smirk knowingly and raise his hand up for a high-five.  
  
“I am not doing this with you right now,” Tim frowned, “Happy birthday, Damian.”  
  
“Uncle Timmy!” Damian screeched, “Uncle Wally got me dees!”  
  
Damian was now wearing the onesie replica of Dick’s Nightwing costume, of course, minus the mask because he’d rather not have to glue down a domino mask onto his baby. Tim’s heart melted at the sight, because Damian looked so cute.  
  
“Does it have clips?”  
  
“Yes, I checked,” Dick responded, “God, none of you will let that go, huh?”   
“You bought fifteen clipless onesies because they were cheaper.”  
  
Tim kneeled down so he could give Damian a cuddle, and Damian didn’t let go so he picked him up and gave the kid a pat on his shoulder.  
  
“He’s heavy,” Tim noted.  
  
“He’s two,” Dick grinned, “So happy I can finally say that without sounding like an asshole.”  
  
“He’s 24 months,” Tim taunted, “He’s developing pretty well, isn’t he? Other than the fact that he’s picked up on your clingy-ness. Still wish he was raised by Bruce?”  
  
He’s had Damian for a total of a year and approximately seven months, and living with a child became easier as he figured out how to do it properly. He figured out how to work Damian’s schedule around his, so he could just drop by his office and do some work before he went insane and restless but still be a good dad. He’s worked out what kind of meals Damian liked and disliked, most of the dislikes containing greens that are pretty good for him, and has pretty much worked around how to get Damian to eat his vegetables (by threatening to call Tim, works every time). He’s managed to bring his son to sparring and training sessions with Tim so he could spend more time with Damian, sometimes Bruce will join in and give Damian some warm cocoa in a sippy cup. Damian sometimes liked to help around the kitchen. Well, by help he meant adorably getting flour all over his hair and pouting because his hair’s all grey afterwards.  
  
He wouldn’t trade it for the world.  
  
So, in response, Dick shrugged, “Nah.”  
  
-  
  
“How do you feel about New York?” Tim asked, “I have to go to this stupid business meeting and I’d rather not suffer alone.”  
  
“I don’t mind, I mean, I haven't seen Tiffany in a while,” Dick shrugged, “You’re gonna suffer alone anyway, if you’re implying that I should come with you. I have to watch the little demon.”  
  
Damian looked at him with his giant eyes.  
  
“I’m joking, Baby Bats, sometimes Daddies joke.”  
  
Tim squinted, “Suffering with me or not?”  
  
“Maybe, I dunno, Dami, do you want to go to New York with Daddy and Uncle Timmy?”  
  
“Whatsa New Yowk?”  
  
“It’s a place with all the bright stuff and they have this big museum with old elephants!” Dick explained, “They have little hairs and they tickle you like this!”  
  
Dick proceeded to tickle the baby boy, making Dami giggle uncontrollably. “Dami want! Dami want!”  
  
Dick looked at Tim, “Where’re we gonna stay?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have no excuses other than the fact that my ex is awful and my personal life is like an actual telenovela. also stuck on chapter 11. what do you guys reckon is should do for that one (the month is november and I did write half of it. my writing's been sporadic lately so i've written chapter 19, 20, and 22 but not chapter 10. obvs open to any suggestions)


	9. Year One, Month Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damian: 25 months  
> Dick: 19  
> Tim: 16  
> Month: September

“Ooh! Kon’s here!” Dick said, looking at his Snapchat and finding out that Conner was in Central Park. He didn’t know how someone had managed to get Superboy to use social media, but the only one he actually uses is Snapchat. It’s weird. He expected something old school like Facebook, but no, Kon had to go out and get himself Snapchat.  
  
Maybe it was M’gaan, but who knows? Maybe he just got bored and downloaded the app himself.  
  
Anything is possible with Conner.  
  
“Kon, as in-?”  
  
“Superboy, yeah,” Dick said, “Are you like, a huge fan of him as much as you were of Jay?”  
  
“Fuck you,” Tim frowned, “That was ages ago, stop bringing it up.”  
  
“Ages ago?” Dick laughed, “You literally had a photo album labelled with everything Jason. Including newspaper clippings and articles, the photos were top notch quality, by the way, have you considered a career in the arts?”  
  
Tim shrugged, “Drake industries.”  
  
Riiight.  
  
“Daddy! Daddy! Look!” Damian tugged on Dick’s hand to get his attention, “Teddy!”  
  
“Where? Where?” Dick looked to the side, before noticing a giant Ted bear on the shop window of Toys”R”Us. Ah, that one, “You have so many teddy bears, though, Dami, you sure you want another one?”  
  
Damian nodded eagerly.  
  
“How about this, if you be good to Daddy and Uncle Timmy, I’ll get you the biggest teddy you can find.”  
  
“Pwomise?”  
  
“Pinkie swear, kiddo,” Dick grinned. “Anyway, I can’t wait to introduce you to Conner. I think you’ll like him, considering you liked Jason and Conner’s basically Jason with less anger, angst, and more Dad jokes.”  
  
“Stop!”  
  
“Sad that I can’t introduce you to Jay, I feel like we’d have fun teasing you and your tiny built and no muscle.”  
  
“I am literally a gymnast.”  
  
“And I’m an acrobat.”  
  
“You eat 7 times a day,” Tim grumbled, “Plus, I saw photos. You were skinnier than me.”  
  
“Yeah, but I was more flexible.”  
  
“I. am. literally. a. gymnast.”  
  
“Gymnast with stalking tendencies.”  
  
“Fuck you, Richard. Fuck you.”  
  
-  
  
“Conner,” the boy smiled at Tim. “Very nice to meet you, Tim.”  
  
“And Dami!”  
  
“And, Damian,” Conner chuckled, “Wow, Dick Grayson with a small child.”  
  
Dick groaned, why does everyone question the fact that he is able to take care of a small human being?  
  
Well, other than the fact that he’s rather irresponsible and Tim the 16 year old lifesaver has stepped in far too many times for Dick to actually be considered a great father, he’s such a good dad. Damian really likes him as a Dad, granted he’s only had one so he can’t compare Dick with anyone, but Damian likes him.  
  
“Does he bite?”  
  
“He’s not a dog.”  
  
“Yeah, but you bite,” Conner said, “I remember that one time you and Kid Flash-“  
  
“Do not talk about those things in front of my son!” Dick gasped, covering Damian’s little ears, “Plus, Wally bit me first.”  
  
Tim raised his eyebrow at them, confused as to what the fuck was happening. Did Dick and Wally have a thing? That’s fucking weird, right? They’re like friends?  
  
“Oh, and that one time with Kori-“  
  
“Conner!”  
  
“I’m joking,” Conner laughed, “But seriously, does he bite?”  
  
Dick facepalmed.  
  
Well, he does, but that’s irrelevant.  
  
-  
  
Meetings are horrid.  
  
Tim wonders why he’s here in the first place. He hates meetings, they’re boring, and people think they know more than he does because he’s like, 16.  
  
He fucking reads, thank you very much.  
  
But sometimes the adults, they behave like animals in the wild; as if the boardroom was a waterhole and the person who yells the most gets that project that they want to have and deserve.  
  
As the sole heir of Drake Industries, he got bored. He knew that one of the yelling adults will turn to him at one point and ask him what he thinks about the “expansion to the Saudi Arabian market” or investment in a “tech protege which would further develop the company”.  
  
Honestly, all he wanted was to chill out with Dick and Conner, he heard that they were getting ice cream.  
  
Conner was… interesting. Tim doesn’t necessarily have a lot of friends, considering he spent his time either training with his gymnastics coach or ~~stalking Batman and Robin~~ attempting to get straight A’s to make his parents happy. He’s an academic, of course. Everyone knows that.  
  
“Thoughts, Mr. Drake?”  
  
Tim shrugs, “Couldn’t really decipher your arguments because of the yelling, to be honest, plus, nothing you said links to the proposal you’ve just printed for me,” Tim pointed out, “Have you tried sending it to me via email instead, by the way? Or like, using the Microsoft Suite stuff that lets you annotate and write notes on the margins? Paper’s like, not good for the environment, and this proposal is a million pages long,” he paused, skimming it for a second and gasping when he realised that it was not printed double sided. “Single sided? Jesus Christ.”  
  
Well, he doesn’t really care, he just wanted to mask the fact that he hasn’t been listening to anything that came out of the 10 other people in the boardroom.  
  
“Now, about the policies, I have a suggestion, how ‘bout we discuss them like civilised adults? Y’know, without all the childish yelling?”  
  
The whole of the boardroom’s jaws dropped.  
  
-  
  
They were at the hotel, and Conner was trying to teach Damian how to shuffle cards when Dick got the phone call.  
  
 _“Richard,”_ He heard Bruce growl in his cell, all he could do was laugh nervously, _“Did you max out the credit card that I gave you?”_  
  
Dick chuckled even more nervously, “I bought some stuff for Damian.”  
  
 _“You spent 100 grand for furniture. What the fuck? Explain.”_  
  
“Damian needed new furnishing for his room! He can’t sleep in a crib forever!”  
  
 _“10 grand in Dolce &Gabbana for literally 3 things!”_  
  
“I saw a coat that had a smaller match! Matchy-matchy Daddy-Baby coats!”  
  
 _“You spent the rest of the money on room service and random shit from… Gamestop? What are you? Ten? And… is that… Richard John Grayson.”_  
  
Dick smiled nervously as he locked eyes with Tim who’s trying very hard to hold back his laughter. Conner held Damian, making sure the kid’s mouth stayed shut. The kid had chatty tendencies whenever Bruce calls. He liked talking to his ‘grandad’.  
  
Heh, Grandad.  
  
“The child is licking my hand.”  
  
“Shut up, Clone Boy,” Dick hissed, “Am I cut off again?”  
  
 _“Really, you had to ask?”_  
  
“Confirmation, you know,” Dick shrugged.  
  
 _“If you don’t give me back the card by the time you step your sorry little ass back to Gotham, you are grounded, Richard. Grounded.”_  
  
“I live in my own apartment!”  
  
 _“Grounded. And so’s Tim.”_  
  
“What! I didn’t do anything!”  
  
 _“And if he so ever claims he didn’t do anything, he could’ve stopped you, but he didn’t.”_  
  
Dick repeated Bruce’s reasoning at Tim, making him sulky and pouty all of a sudden.  
  
“What about rent?”  
  
 _“You have money, go figure things out yourself.”_  
  
Dick groaned.  
  
Well, at least he got some nice new furniture for his apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've just finished writing chapter 22 and guess what I did something so I had to change the rating otherwise enjoy the cutesy dick and baby dami adventures for now wink wonk
> 
> also yaay my cheap "bruce gives him a credit card and he blows out all the money on irrelevant shit" gag has been revealed.


	10. Year One, Month Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damian: 26 months  
> Dick: 19  
> Month: October

“I can’t believe we’re taking him to an Aquarium on Halloween,” Tim grumbled, “He should be Trick or Treating for the first time like a normal small child.”  
  
“Don’t tell me how to parent, Timothy,” Dick retorted, “Do you like the fishies, Little D?”  
  
Damian frowned, “Why they in glass, Daddy?”  
  
“So they can breathe, Dami.”  
  
“But, they in glass, they have low mo-mobilidity.”  
  
Tim’s eyes lit up, “Mobility? Did he just say mobility?”  
  
“Yes?” Dick responded, “Your Uncle Timmy is weird, isn’t he?”  
  
“The fishies, Daddy.”  
  
It was Halloween, and Dick decided that he should take Damian to the aquarium. Dick really liked the aquarium, mainly because it’s nearly always empty and it’s a pretty educational place. Tim and Damian didn’t, sadly, Tim was too busy being astonished that Dick decided to do this instead of Trick or Treating, and Damian’s too busy to notice that there are more things to the aquarium than fish in glass tanks. There was education.  
  
These boys need some serious work, obviously.  
  
“It’s better than the Manor’s Halloween party, though, amirite?”  
  
“You’re only saying that because you don’t want to talk to people about being a Dad and my possible permanent position as the newest member of the Wayne Family.”  
  
Dick laughed, true, “Do you want it, though?”  
  
“To be an official Wayne child?” Tim asked.  
  
He paused for a second. How would it feel to be a Wayne child? He bets it would be fun, with all the parties and house guests. He bets it would be fascinating, with all the new tech and things he could develop with the Wayne money and all the available tools the bat cave had. He bets it would be nice, possibly having Dick as an older brother.  
  
But does he really want to?  
  
It would be less lonely, of course, but is it really worth everything?  
  
Tim shrugged, “Considering my parents are still alive, no, I kind of enjoy being the permanent house guest.”  
  
Dick nodded.  
  
“That, and people might think I’m here just to be Jason’s replacement, which I’m not,” Tim shrugged, “So, yeah, Damian, do you wanna get out of here?”  
  
Damian’s eyes lit up, “Can we watch Little Einsteins?”  
  
Dick groaned internally, but obliged, “Sure, kiddo.”  
  
-  
  
“Tim, Dickie and Dami! Hi!” Barbara grinned, “How was Trick or Treating?”  
  
Damian looked slightly grumpy.  
  
Tim was indifferent.  
  
“We went to the aquarium,” Dick said, breaking the silence.  
  
“Pfft, boring,” she scoffed, “Wasn’t it, Dami?”  
  
“Uncle Timmy said the fishies are held in the tank from the day they were birthed.”  
  
Barbara raised her eyebrow, Tim shrugged before running off straight to his room.  
  
She looked straight into Dick’s eyes, “You are a horrible father,” she said, “Halloween’s still on, how do you feel about going Trick or Treating with Auntie Babs?”  
  
Damian grinned and ran as fast as his little legs could carry him towards the general direction of the redhead, making Dick frown deeply as he mouthed ‘little traitor’.  
  
-  
  
October was uneventful. Dick barely did anything. Damian hasn’t bitten anyone, which is a bonus. He got a gold star on his drawing as well, granted it wasn’t a really good drawing, it barely resembled anything, but Dick was so proud of the small child that he framed it and hung it in their living room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next couple of chapters are shorter, as it's kinda domestic and chill but imma warn you that this story gets kinda dark nearing the end and i might add tags as i go along so look out for those
> 
> also apologies for my inconsistencies, I had writers block and i've been writing this massive oneshot that i will eventually post one day


	11. Year One, Month Ten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damian: 27 months  
> Dick: 20  
> Month: November

He googled what was the appropriate time for him to bring a small child to the movie theatre. Obviously, Dick being Dick decided to disregard all the articles and bring Damian to a re-screening of one of his favourite movies, Lilo & Stitch.  
  
2 years is old enough for him to be able to not get scared while being in a dark room with a bunch of people looking at a large screen, right?  
  
Right.  
  
Well, sort of.  
  
Damian was so mesmerised that he didn’t focus at all on the movie. He got lost a few times, and asked Dick what was happening multiple times to the point where they got kicked out of the theatre. But that’s okay, at least he knew the kid liked movies.  
  
It was 10PM now, and they were looking for a place to get dinner. He was tempted to go for McDonalds, but he feels that Tim the 16-year-old-protective-mother-hen would murder him for feeding the kid too much junk.  
  
“Dami sleepy, Daddy,” the small child yawned.  
  
“But we’re so close to McDonalds, baby, don’t you want your nuggs?”  
  
Damian’s sleepy eyes lit up, they strangely changed hues under the dimly lit sidewalk, his eyes almost looked green. He debated on calling Derek, but he figured the issue isn’t that important. It’s just a shift in pigment, nothing to worry about. If anything, he likes that Dami might have different coloured eyes, considering he and Bruce have blue eyes, Tim does as well. It’s nice to have variety in the household.  
  
McDonalds were his secret weapon. Or any kind of nuggets, really, Dami likes processed food, also Tim’s homemade Ice Cream recipe that he refuses to share as it is a ‘Family Secret’. Saddest thing is that Tim can’t cook anything from scratch other than that tub of ice cream.  
  
Hilarious, really.  
  
He walked to the only open register only to meet the tired eyes of a cashier maybe about two years younger than him. She smiled at him, before glancing at the little child tangled in Dick’s arms, half asleep and mumbling in his shirt.  
  
“One chicken McNugget happy meal, please,” he said, “With a double quarter pounder, to go.”  
  
The girl smiled, “That’ll be 9.98, please.”  
  
Dick handed her a twenty, “Keep the change.”  
  
-  
  
He found it funny how at 20 years old he’ll end up having a small child smear icing on his face on his birthday, giggling like the happy toddler he is as Barbara lets Damian smear icing on his father.  
  
“Happy Birfday Daddy!” the child squealed.  
  
Dick chuckled, “Thank you, baby bat, Babs,” he grinned, “Ew, I’m all sticky now.”  
  
“Not like you hate it.”  
  
“Not in front of my child,” Dick frowned.  
  
Who knew that at 20 he’d be this sentimental, with a small child, no relationship, a sort of job that lets him drop in at any time so he has so much free time to spend with this small bean, a nightly career as a vigilante (sort of). It was kind of refreshing.  
  
Looking back, would he change it?  
  
Nah.  
  
It was one of the things he didn’t really appreciate before he really got to know Damian as a toddler. Considering he was not nearly as emotionless and stoical as Talia and Ra’s Al Ghul, and he was still incredibly chubby. It was great. He wondered when the chub will subside, because he knows he’s gonna miss it.  
  
How long has it been since Bruce dumped his kid on him? 11 months?  
  
It’s been 11 months since he’s started trying (and failing most of the time) at parenting. Everyone’s been a massive help, Tim being the most helpful for some reason considering he’s not really a part of the Wayne-Grayson clan, merely just a permanent house guest. Barbara has been an amazing aunt to Damian, one that the little boy deserves, Bruce, even though is still a broody mess, has been sort of great at being a grandfather, even though he’s technically Damian’s dad.  
  
Even though it’s never been confirmed.  
  
He wondered why Bruce has never pulled a DNA test on Damian.  
  
Really, the kid could be anyone’s if he thought about it.  
  
But he really did look like Bruce. Heck, he looked a lot like Bruce. Give him ghostly pale skin and he’ll be tiny Bruce.  
  
Thank God Talia had tan skin, because otherwise none of them will be able to pull of saying that Damian Grayson is the biological child of Richard Grayson.  
  
But really, though, who cares?  
  
Even if Bruce decided to take him, he’s still Dick’s son, and nothing in this world could ever change that.  
  
Ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is Christmas and New Years! Woohoo


	12. Year One, Month Eleven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damian: 28 months  
> Dick: 20  
> Month: December

Bruce Wayne stopped celebrating Christmas the day after Jason Todd died.  
  
Why? Because Christmas was his favourite holiday.  
  
They had Galas, of course, billionaire playboys have to have those, but Bruce, Dick, Alfred and Jason used to have their own little Christmas celebration, one that’s just for the four of them as a family. Dick used to secretly love those, even though he was never really close to Jason due to the distance and the slight grudge he held on the poor kid, but to be fair, having a little celebration after the Gala was young master Jason’s idea. They’d put up a smaller Christmas tree in the library near the fireplace and exchange gifts there. Sometimes Barbara would join in after her own little celebration with the Gordons. Now that their family is slightly bigger, Dick decided that Damian had to have a proper first Christmas, and Tim agreed. Bruce just grumbled like he usually does.  
  
Dick decided to help Alfred in the kitchen, or at least, try to. Him and Damian were both trouble as it is. It was hard enough to get Richard Grayson to stop eating the sugar cookies, and it was even harder to get baby Damian to stop looking at Alfred with his big, baby blues using politely for yet another moon shaped cookie decorated with the most delicate of all the icing.  
  
Dick thought it was hilarious when Tim showed up with large shopping bags from Target, with 6 of the most ugliest, punniest, weirdest sweaters he’s ever seen in his life.  
  
It was glorious.  
  
Damian’s was too big, as it was made for children over 5 years old and Damian is barely there. It made him look smaller than he actually is, and it had a picture of a pug and a shitty pun on it. The contrasting colours made it even worse, which was why he liked it.  
  
His was slightly too big as well, with a large walrus printed on the front over plaid, which looked so unflattering on him it wasn’t even funny. Bruce’s was the only one that fit perfectly, and it was a horrendous shade of green with candy canes on it. Alfred’s was not that bad in his opinion, as it was a nice shade of navy blue with the same pattern as Bruce’s sweater. But none of the sweaters looked as awful as Tim’s. It was shaped to look like a cardigan over a button up and a tie. It wasn’t.  
  
Awful.  
  
None of them got to see Barbara’s sweater, as she couldn’t make it, but Tim promised that it was ugly.  
  
All five of them sat around the fireplace, with Damian sitting on Dick’s lap as the little boy tried to steal all of the mini-marshmallows from his hot cocoa. None of them said a word, and it was the most time Damian has ever spent with his biological father without him flinching or walking away from the situation, even thought the small child thinks of Bruce as his grandfather.  
  
Alfred handed Dick Damian’s bottle that he’d filled with warm cocoa just so the toddler wouldn’t feel left out, and Damian squeaked happily when he saw the chocolate liquid fill his clear, plastic bottle. He began sucking on the nip and resting his small head onto his father’s chest, happy and content with his first ever Christmas with his family.  
  
They didn’t exchange gifts that day.  
  
They didn’t have awkward small talk that day.  
  
They just enjoyed each other’s presence after the facade of the Wayne Christmas Gala.  
  
-  
  
New Years was a different story.  
  
New years had Damian rush to the living room as fast as his little legs could carry him, just so he could jump up and down on the sofa which his dad crashed on after a long night of playing muted Mortal Kombat.  
  
He wondered how Damian got out of the little crib he’s still in until he’s big enough to fit in the bed they got from New York.  
  
Boy’s got mad ninja skills.  
  
Ever since Barbara told him about new years, the kid got excited, thinking that a new year means a soft reset for humanity, and new year sales instantly means he gets new toys. Dick thought it was adorable at first, but quickly realised that it means he has to get Damian a new toy for new years.  
  
Dammit, he already got the kid a set for Christmas.  
  
“Daddy! Daddy! New Year!”  
  
Dick yawned, “Yes, Dami, new year,” he grinned, “Where do you wanna go today, baby? Toys’R’Us?”  
  
Damian shook his head, no, “Dami want tea.”  
  
Dick raised his eyebrow, “Tea? Why’d you want tea?”  
  
“Alfwed give Dami tea when Daddy was with Uncle Gordy.”  
  
“Do you like tea?”  
  
“Dami like tea.”  
  
Dick sighed, “Okay then, let’s have a tea party.”  
  
The small child grinned.  
  
He takes back what he said about hating his life as Damian’s dad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> rando update because i can't sleep sigh
> 
> i had lots of fun writing the fluffy happy parts of this story that the darker and more gritty parts are becoming so exhausting to write. Like I can't say anything because it'll spoil it but i dunno what do you guys think? what do you reckon is going to happen over the next couple of chapters? What do you think about the subtle references and things that I've been putting on over the last twelve chapters? do you know what's going to happen? let me know, start a discussion, and if you can predict the future, I'll do a double update next time ;)
> 
> I appreciate all the kudos and comments and I self beta so if you see anything janky just let me know and i'll fix it


	13. Year Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damian: 29 months  
> Dick: 20  
> Month: January

Dick hated this.  
  
It was January, and Commissioner Gordon has decided to do the absolute worst by calling him and telling him that he’s needed in the office, immediately.  
  
He didn’t mind going to work when he’s needed, but he promised Damian that he’d take the kid to the zoo today, considering he’s been swamped with patrol every night, making him pretty much half dead in the morning. Alfred usually stays with Damian whenever they go on patrol, and ever since Tim took the cowl he needed to watch over him so he doesn’t turn out like Jason.  
  
He hated Gordon, but he also hated Bruce.  
  
Had he trusted Tim, whom is the smartest out of all the Robins, he wouldn’t have to disappoint Damian like this.  
  
So there he was, 7AM in the morning, trying to call Kelsey from the local daycare to see if Damian could still go for daycare as he can’t take him to the zoo today, while dealing with his crying toddler.  
  
“If you drop him off at 7.30 the latest, we’ll still be able to-“  
  
“Awesome! Thanks Kelsey,” he said, quickly hanging up, “I’m sorry, baby, but we can go to the zoo another time! Maybe we can get Granddad to come next time?”  
  
“B-but D-dami wanna go now!”  
  
“Uncle Gordy needs me, Damian,” he sighed, “Aunty Babs and Uncle Tim’s at school, so they can’t take you.”  
  
Damian screamed louder, upset that he couldn’t go to the zoo with his dad like promised.  
  
“But Miss Kelsey’s gonna take very good care of you-“  
  
“Dami don’t wanna! Dami wanna stay with Daddy!”  
  
Dick’s eyes started to water, he hated this, he hated how upset Damian gets whenever he leaves.  
  
He was like this all throughout his first year, he’d throw a tantrum every time Dick had to leave the apartment without him and leave him with Alfred, Barbara, or Tim. But he had to. He can’t get out of this one, especially after what happened earlier right after new years.  
  
Damian was upset about that one as well, since Dick had to leave straight after they had their little tea party to fix Gordon’s mess.  
  
Damian was crying all the way to the parking lot, and inside the car on the way to daycare.  
  
The little boy was still sobbing when Dick handed him over to Kelsey, and it broke his heart that he had to do this every time there’s an emergency.  
  
-  
  
It was common knowledge in the Wayne-Grayson-Drake household that Damian has certain…difficulties. He hangs well with adults, usually ranging from Tim’s age to Alfred’s, but children? Not so much.  
  
The first time Dick heard about Damian biting his daycare mates, he shrugged it off, considering he was barely 2 years old and doesn’t know better. Now that he’s a little bit over two years old and has chatty tendencies, he’s a bit worried.  
  
It’s difficult enough, considering the only other person he knows has a child is Roy, and Lian is three years older than Damian. Jon is still kind of a baby, so he should probably refrain from letting Damian meet him. (Well, when he initially invited the Kents to Damian’s second birthday, he thought Jon was older, so, yeah, he needs to pay more attention)  
  
So that day when he picks up Damian after work from daycare, he got the biggest shock of his life.  
  
Damian had a…friend.  
  
“How the fuck, Kelsey?” Dick whispered to the daycare worker, “How the fuck?”  
  
“Don’t say that, Mr. Grayson,” she chuckled, “You should have more faith in your son.”  
  
Dick looked at her, “Weren’t you the one that told me he bit one of the four year olds in the playground about four months ago?”  
  
Kelsey, the daycare worker, shrugged, “People change.”  
  
“Daddy!”  
  
“Heyy, Dami,” Dick picked him up out in reflex, “Sorry you had to spend the day in daycare, are you still upset about this morning?”  
  
Damian shook his head, “I made friend!”  
  
Dick nodded, “I saw, why don’t you say bye to Kelsey before we go?”  
  
“Dami wanna say bye to Collie!”  
  
“Collie?” he asked towards the general direction of Kelsey.  
  
“Colin. The little boy.”  
  
Oh! “Alrighty then, be careful yeah? Don’t run.”  
  
“Okay, Daddy.”  
  
Damian, demon child in the eye of other children, fucking angel to adults, has managed to make a friend.  
  
“Oh my god, I’m gonna put this in his baby book,” he exclaimed, “Holy shit, Damian managed to make a friend.”  
  
Kelsey laughed, “I’ll introduce you to his parents.”  
  
“Why?”  
  
“So you can arrange playdates! Duh!” she smiled, “You’re useless, Mr Grayson.”  
  
Dick scoffed, but followed her anyway.  
  
-  
  
Meeting Mr and Mrs Wilkes was… weird.  
  
First things first, the woman straight up judged him for being a smily 20 year old with a two year old son, telling him with her eyes that he was unsuitable to raise a child. He hated that because it’s in a way true, but he tries, alright, he tries.  
  
Second of all, Mr Wilkes was touchy. Like, really touchy. He expected Mrs Wilkes to be Mr Wilkes touchy, but she wasn’t. She was too busy judging Dick for his parenting skills. Mr Wilkes straight up had his hands on Dick’s bicep and complimented him on his abs, which was weird, considering the man was about twice his age and married.  
  
Dick doesn’t go for married people, because obviously he’s not a dickhead.  
  
But the look on Damian’s face when little Colin hugged him before they left was beyond adorable. Damian never really smiles when he’s around other children, and he’s known to be a very grumpy child in this particular daycare, so when he let out a small, soft smile in Colin’s little embrace, Dick melted.  
  
It was too cute.  
  
He wished he had his cell so he could capture this moment.  
  
“Will we see you again?” Mr Wilkes asked, breaking his focus on Damian and Colin’s little interaction.  
  
Dick laughed nervously, “I don’t know, I never really drop Damian off in daycare unless I absolutely have to. My father knows my employer and when his mom died he let me have a more lax work schedule and only makes me come in when they need me.”  
  
Mr Wilkes looked really disappointed, “Well, we’re glad Colin got to see your Damian, our son has difficulty making friends. He gets nervous.”  
  
Dick smiled, “Damian’s the same, but instead of getting nervous, he gets feisty.”  
  
Mr Wilkes laughed, which then lead to his wife smacking him in the arm, “Considering your Damian is our son’s only friend, I’ll allow you to arrange play dates whenever you are able.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> @Keeperofhounds was partially correct on the future of this story, I'm not saying which part but hey, if you look at all my little hints you'd find it uber obvious. (Since I have the inability to be subtle with my hints wink wonk)
> 
> I'm editing a future chapter and I was debating on putting a scene with Dick potty training Damian in the chapter. I know how I can make it funny without making it gross, but I don't know how it'd fit with the chapter. What do you guys think, should I add it or should I make it into a longer bonus sequel for the future?
> 
> Also what do you guys think of this story so far? It's almost halfway through and this makes me pretty sad.
> 
> I do also know that Colin Wilkes is an orphan, but I dunno, he's about 2-3 here so I thought it'd be nice to have Mr and Mrs Wilkes feature, even though they don't exactly exist in the canon. What do you guys think about the future of their friendship? (Streets of Gotham is a real good comic and Colin Wilkes deserves better aight)
> 
> As always, have a great day and if you see anything janky let me know and i'll fix it!


	14. Year Two, Month One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damian: 30 months  
> Dick: 20  
> Month: February

It was nearing Bruce’s birthday, and Dick, Tim, and Barbara decided to pull pranks on the man.  
  
Dick considered this revenge for making him take care of Damian, even though he’s grown to love the child.  
  
They planned it out pretty perfectly, with every single detail coming to life due to Tim’s overworked brain and Alfred’s knowledge of the manor. Barbara just wanted in because pranking Bruce is fun, even though they all end up getting in trouble afterwards.  
  
But Dick can’t shake the feeling of someone following him, which was odd considering he was in broad daylight, watching Damian enjoy the sandbox with his friend Colin for the day. He was making sure that Damian won’t do anything stupid, like eat the sand, while he noticed a pair of eyes on him.  
  
They were eerily familiar; like a set of eyes he’s seen before.  
  
He wondered who it was, and why they were watching him.  
  
He figured it was nobody.  
  
-  
  
Bruce looked sadder than usual, which was odd, considering the man is sad all the time. He also looked worried, for some reason, and while they were on patrol, he said something rather cryptic.  
  
“Watch over Damian,” Bruce said, “Someone’s found out that he’s in your care.”  
  
“Who?” Dick asked, “Is it Penguin? The Joker? Ra’s?”  
  
Bruce didn’t say, and before Dick could force him, he vanished.  
  
He hates it when Bruce is all cryptic and shit.  
  
-  
  
It got eve scarier when he noticed someone try to break in through his window.  
  
He always keeps it locked, especially after he let a two year old move into his apartment. It’s not like he’d willingly endanger his child, that’s not his thing.  
  
But when the person noticed that he was there, with his Escrima sticks in hand, they vanished.  
  
Fucking weird, he might say.  
  
Surely they would have stayed for Dick’s amazing Bolognese.  
  
Well, make that sub par.  
  
“Daddy, why pot smoking?”  
  
_Shit!_  
  
“Hey, how do you feel about going to Grandad’s for dinner?” He asked, after noticing that he’d managed to fuck up his sauce. It was his first time making it from scratch and he’d managed to ruin it.  
  
Oh well, Alfred likes them enough to fix up an extra plate on the dinner table, right? And Bruce doesn’t mind that much when Damian calls him Gran, right?  
  
Hopefully, he doesn’t know, he’s trying, alright.  
  
-  
  
Bruce looked kind of stressed.  
  
Well, a lot stressed.  
  
They were two days closer to the older man’s birthday, and everything was set up. All they had to do was make sure that he doesn’t find out. But there was another problem, a problem that has been making Bruce a little more grumpier than usual.  
  
Last week when Dick went on patrol, both of them saw someone on the pier with a shotgun. Black Mask has already been keeping them busy, and even with two extra hands, Bruce can’t keep up with the new villain.  
  
The guy was targeting the same guy they were trying to take down, and it frustrates Bruce because he was always one step ahead of them. He’d know every more, every breath, and every step he’d take. Heck, he even studied Tim’s combat style, which made life even worse.  
  
Dick saw that his armour looked similar to his Nightwing suit, only with a different colour palette, and he was familiar. Dick recognised the moves that the guy did, but he knew it wasn’t possible.  
  
He calls himself Red Hood.  
  
Bruce hates him for some reason.  
  
“Cheer up, Old Man, he’s helping us take down Roman, which is great, I guess.”  
  
“He’s been killing a lot of people.”  
  
Dick shrugged, “Maybe it’s his MO.”  
  
“It’s not a good one.”  
  
Dick sighed, “Where’s the-“  
  
“Didn’t I tell you you’re not allowed to touch our CoolWhip?”  
  
“It’s for Damian.”  
  
“Bullshit.”  
  
“Daddy! Ganpa say boolshit!”  
  
Bruce forgot that he had Damian sitting on his lap.  
  
“Grandpa’s badmouthing and he needs to put a dollar in the swear jar,” Dick said, “Right, Bruce?”  
  
“Fuck off.”  
  
“Two dollars.”  
  
-  
  
Their pranks were great. No! Better than great. They all went swimmingly to the point where they'd managed to get each other either grounded or benched or both.  
  
Two days before his birthday, Tim and Barbara, assisted by Tim’s ‘friend who is totally not his girlfriend shut the fuck up Dick’ Stephanie, covered all of Bruce’s cars in polystyrene. They did all of them except for the one he uses the most, which was his business car that’s parked in front of the driveway.  
  
Tim got benched for this, and Barbara thought it was unfair for him to do so. So Bruce benched her ‘in the name of feminism’.  
  
His words, not Dick’s.  
  
A day before his birthday, Dick helped cover the entire library with Batman Memes. He spent hours the day before looking for the shittiest ones, and with Alfred, Tim and Barbara, they covered the entire room with memes.  
  
Bruce saw this and told Dick that he was grounded. Dick responded with yet another ‘I live in my own house!’  
  
On his birthday, they invited the entire Justice League. They made sure that Bruce didn’t notice that the whole entire Justice League was just lounging around the manor, which made it easier to execute the last prank.  
  
They needed Damian, because who can resist the two year old?  
  
No one.  
  
“Ganpa, Dami want ice cream,” was the only thing Dick told Damian to say to Bruce. He knew that he couldn’t resist those giant baby blue eyes, so he’d probably take the child to an ice cream parlour.  
  
When they got back, Dick gave each and every one of the League a can of CoolWhip, and the moment Bruce walked into the door, they sprayed it at him.  
  
“Happy Birthday Bruce!”  
  
Bruce looked done, but smiled anyway. He was covered in whipped cream with an amused child on his hip, laughing at how much cream was around them. All his teammates were there, and he’s had the worst couple of days of his life. Heck, even Jordan was there and his smug piece of shit face made Bruce want to punch him even more. Well, maybe not in the face, because Bruce secretly liked the other’s face, but no one knows that, right?  
  
But hey, he liked that a lot of people cared.  
  
He also liked that little Damian hugged him in the car before telling him that Dick planned the whip cream prank.  
  
Sometimes he loved the child’s blabs, especially when it makes sense.

~~Barbara, Tim, and Dick got grounded, benched, and assigned cleaning and chores duty for a week.~~

~~Dick would've never thought washing cars would be this therapeutic. Barbara finds it funny that Tim doesn't know how to use basic cleaning appliances but knows how to make ice cream from scratch. Tim was so fascinated by Laundry that he ended up volunteering to do it for the rest of his stay with the Wayne-Graysons.~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all of you that commented on the last chapter! It was really nice to hear some feedback from you guys.
> 
> A little warning for the next couple of chapters, some might have little bits of violence in it, so i'll put a little warning underneath the month just so you can brace yourselves. It's not very graphic violence, but it's violence, nonetheless.
> 
> So, the Red Hood, huh? Seems interesting I reckon. Also who do you think is the stalker and what do you think they're gonna do? What's their relevance? I love hearing your thoughts and stuff.
> 
> Also what do you guys think about the pranks?
> 
> I feel like as immature teens it's very idk... Correct. I dunno, man I just wanted to write a little fun chapter about the batkids pranking the batdad.
> 
> Anyways, love to hear the feedback.


	15. Year Two, Month Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damian: 31 months  
> Dick: 20  
> Month: March
> 
> *content warning: implied bodily harm*

One thing’s for sure, he hated leaving Damian at night more than he hated leaving him in the morning.  
  
Why? Because A, he can’t call Kelsey to watch Damian, even though she’s the only person outside of the Wayne-Grayson-Drake-Gordon clan the kid could stand who’s not a vigilante by night, because she has night classes (He tried once, getting softly rejected by a part time daycare worker that he’d managed to befriend after the four-year-old incident was harsh). And B, Damian hates babysitters. All of them. He doesn’t know why, but the kid despises them. Dick doesn’t understand how a two year old could understand the notion of babysitters when he still slurs his sentences sometimes. What the fuck.  
  
Damian doesn’t mind the lady who used to live next door to Dick, but her children put her into a retirement home. The first one was that Starfire fanatic who looked way to much like Kori it was scary. The second one was Adrienne, and the Wayne-Grayson-Drakes don’t talk about Adrienne. Especially after what happened (it involved a fire extinguisher and Tim’s Bo staff. Very hard to explain). The third one was the really hot guy, Finn, Dick doesn’t remember why they never called him back. He sure did like his face. And his instagram. Quality photos. Very nice.  
  
Oh wait, yes he does, Tim caught him trying to read Damian Fifty Shades of Grey as a bedtime story. Damian didn’t hate that one, but everyone else certainly did.  
  
His newest one, however, seems promising.  
  
For starters, Damian doesn’t hate her. Camilla, which, Dick would admit, is a very attractive woman, is three years older than him and goes to University of Metropolis, but lives in Gotham, strangely enough. She’s getting a masters in Comparative Lit. Nice brown eyes.  
  
 _Calm the fuck down, Grayson, you’re a dad._  
  
She’s been Damian’s sitter for a while now, usually when Dick has to go on patrol. He’d always make sure that Bruce never schedules him to go on days when Camilla can’t watch Damian, but this time he needed backup and called everyone. It seemed pretty serious, so he called her frantically, saying that it was an emergency. She arrived about ten minutes later, since she was in Gotham doing study group/private tutoring with a new guy, a mysterious transfer student from Star City.  
  
“So sorry for the short notice-“  
  
“It’s fine, New Kid was chill, he had to leave right after you called as well, pretty weird if I do say so myself,” She chuckled, “Go, the other Narcs need you.”  
  
-  
  
Dick found out the hard way that his life was in danger.  
  
Obviously he’s been stabbed before, but not by a knife with toxins that could kill him.  
  
It was hectic and awful, because he had to sit there and listen to Damian bombard Alfred with requests to see his daddy. He was bed bound to the cave for a while and it killed him when he heard Damian’s little cries.  
  
“Uncle Timmy, where’s Daddy?”  
  
Tim didn’t say anything, he couldn’t. The little boy looked so worried.  
  
“Your Daddy’s a little bit woozy,” Barbara said as she kneeled so she’d roughly be the same level as Damian, “He has a bug in his tummy, and Tim and I were given strict orders from your Grandad to take you somewhere until he gets better.”  
  
“But Dami wanna see Daddy!”  
  
“Master Richard is not well enough for visitors, Young Master Damian.”  
  
The kid cried and whined, calling out for Dick repeatedly, making his eyes water when he heard so.  
  
“Hey, shh, Dami calm down,” he heard Tim say, “Wanna get ice cream? I’ll race you to the car?”  
  
“Dami want Daddy!”  
  
“You’ll see him soon, I promise, but right now your Daddy has to rest, last one to the car’s a rotten egg?”  
  
Damian sobbed, “Can Dami has two ice cweams?”  
  
“Of course, Sweetheart,” he heard Barbara say, “Anything for baby Dami.”  
  
-  
  
The toxin was something that they have never seen, which delayed the process of him getting better. Unlike any of Ivy’s toxins, to which they’ve managed to formulate antidotes, these were different. It took Alfred about four days to fully flush the thing out of Dick’s system, and in those four days, Damian’s been a pain in the ass to Tim and Barbara. He’s not a pain in the ass to Bruce because Bruce has had three boys in his care and knows how to deal with kids, even though he’s never experienced a toddler, he knows shit.  
  
Tim had to call Dr Jameson multiple times because the kid was being such a little shit, and he was the only person out of all of them who could get Damian to do anything for the last four days.  
  
It was horrific.  
  
When Dick came out of his coma, he was greeted by a warm embrace from his son. The little boy cried on his chest, sobbing and tearing up about how “daddy not allowed to be woozy again”.  
  
Dick laughed, stroking the boy’s thickening raven hair.  
  
“I promise I wont leave you for so long, Baby Bat.”  
  
-  
  
It wasn’t that he’s never been stabbed before, it’s just that the knife the person used was oddly familiar. It had carvings of lettering that he’s seen before, somewhere. It was black with purple detailing, and it looked freaking artistic, had it not been lodged in his abdomen with it’s toxin coated blade, which nearly killed him off for good.  
  
The toxin was mild, and it was supposed to be potent enough to hurt him, but not to kill him.  
  
At least that’s what Alfred said.  
  
His right lower abdomen still hurts, so he’s been trying to balance Damian on his left side for now. Gordon has benched him for good after this incident, and said that he was only allowed to work when Damian hits a certain age. He wonders why the commissioner was lenient towards him. He’s fairly certain that everyone else in the force would’ve hated him by now because of it.  
  
He recalled that it was six.  
  
Still four years away. Dick could manage, right?  
  
But the knife. Well, the thing that chipped in his lower abdomen. It looked familiar. He’s been looking at it under the Batcave’s microscope for over four hours now, trying to figure out what the fuck hit him.  
  
So far, nothing, but he’ll get there eventually.  
  
-  
  
It’s the end of March, and Dick hasn’t gotten the mail in a while. Well he hasn't since the incident and when he does he needed to bring Damian just in case the kid’s gonna bump into weird shit in his apartment and whenever he does, he gets stopped because every single adult who lives in his neighbourhood wants to get to know his son.  
  
It was weird.  
  
His neighbour, the one that he’s never seen come out of the door to his place came out once. She was surprisingly attractive, but she reminded him too much of Zatanna. Raven hair, sharp eyes with an angular face. She came out in pyjamas once and locked eyes with his son, before walking closer and going, “Is this your son?”  
  
Dick nodded which then lead to her squealing and pinching Dami’s cheek.  
  
“He’s so cute! What’s his name?”  
  
“Damian,” Dick grinned, “Say hi, baby.”  
  
Damian took a good look at her before hiding in the crook of his father’s neck. Dick laughed, “Guess not.”  
  
The girl laughed, “Figures, maybe it’s cos I’m barely dressed.”

“No, not really,” Dick said, “He’s just upset I didn’t give him chicken nuggets for lunch. My younger brother’s been lecturing me about his diet and I figured I should probably stop feeding him gross shi-tuff. Stuff.”  
  
The girl laughed.  
  
“Anyway, we gotta go down and get our mail. I haven't been downstairs to get post in weeks.”  
  
Damian also hated walking to the mailbox, which was odd because he loved walking everywhere else, so Dick has to carry the little child all the way downstairs and back in order to get it. He used to be able to get away with getting Mrs Gonzales to watch out for Damian while he goes to get the mail, but since what happened Dami’s been extra clingy.  
  
Dick didn’t mind, but Damian is kinda heavy now, so it’s not very good for his upper body. Especially since he can only carry the kid on the left side because of his stab wound.  
  
He was used to the usual bills, but what he found was something different.  
  
Three packages, one labelled with Damian’s name, one labelled with Dick’s, and another labelled with the word ‘Birthday’ on it.  
  
Huh. Weird.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oohhh, packages, who are they from?
> 
> i'm in an updating mood today, since i'd managed to get a new job that's way better and yeah i'm stoked.
> 
> also who do reckon stabbed Dick? I initially had this giant scene where he gets stabbed, but it went in a direction that was waayyy too dark for this lil fluff tale, or at least too dark for it to be at this stage.
> 
> i love reading your comments and having little discussions with you, so yeah have an awesome day!


	16. Year Two, Month Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damian: 32 months  
> Dick: 20  
> Month: April

Dick decided that he should probably give up micro-analysing the packages and possibly tear the wrapping like a normal person. In a way, after what had happened with the random mystery stabbing, he’s been more cautious with everything that he does. He’d double check everything for safety just in case, even with these seemingly harmless packages.  
  
Dick decided to open the one labelled Damian first. It was a pleasant gift, a book of Norse mythology with a note that said “you’ll appreciate this when you’re older”. Dick figured he’d pick one to read Damian, considering the kid’s been sleepless lately even though he told him that he’s been benched by the big bat. He opened the one labelled birthday next, and it had an old picture of Bruce on it, so he figured it was for him.  
  
The one with his name on it, however, was different.  
  
It was a cellphone.  
  
Weird, considering he’s already got one.  
  
But that phone was different.  
  
He tried to call someone with it and it didn’t work. He tried texting and the phone just shut itself down.  
  
He found it odd, so he figured he might as well keep it somewhere so he could test it for explosives. Preferably when Damian’s having his scheduled playdate with Colin.  
  
Mr and Mrs Wilkes said they’d take the kids out to the zoo, which was very nice of them.  
  
He hopes it doesn’t rain, as much as he liked April showers, he’d rather not disappoint his son.  
  
-  
  
“Heyy, kiddo, how was the zoo with Colin?”  
  
Damian grinned tiredly, ready to fall asleep as Dick balanced the little boy on his hip.  
  
“You liked it?” the child nodded, “Awesome.”  
  
“He got super excited when he saw the elephants,” Mr Wilkes chuckled, “We took him riding, hope you don’t mind.”  
  
Dick smiled, “Of course I don’t, s’long as the baby’s content,” he answered, “Say thank you to Mr Wilkes, baby.”  
  
“Thank you Mistah Wilkes,” Damian yawned.  
  
“Whoops, guess I gotta tuck him in,” Dick laughed, “Thanks so much for taking him out, it’s nice that he’s hanging out with people other than me, my brother and my dad’s colleague.”  
  
The older man laughed, “It’s fine, Sam and I are happy to help,” he sighed, “Dick, listen-“  
  
“Whoop, look at the time? Gotta go, thanks again Mr Wilkes!” Dick rushed in, closing his door so he doesn’t have to deal with the older man.  
  
“It’s James!”  
  
Holy shit, that was so fucking weird.  
  
-  
  
He initially used the swear jar as a joke to get people to stop swearing in front of Damian, since the kid picks up words and parrots them every time he gets to. But because people didn’t take it seriously, Dick made it into his new thing. He’d carry a little envelope which he tucked into his pocket whenever he goes so he could collect money that he puts in a jar that he keeps in his living room.  
  
The first day he collected $1500 from Bruce, Barbara, Tim, and a few of the League members that happened to be there in the manor. He remembered Hal’s face when he told him that he had to ‘put a dollar in the swear jar’ because he said bullshit in close proximity to Damian, also Ollie’s drunken curing that gave him a whooping 300 dollars in a couple of hours. It was great extra money, which he got away with because he decided to raise a child.  
  
Well, he didn’t, but it’s a child perk, especially when he’s constantly around people who swore like sailors.  
  
Alfred found it funny.  
  
Damian doesn’t know what’s going on, but he smiles whenever his dad says “swear jar.”  
  
-  
  
He tried making hot chocolate. Tried being he nearly burned down the building because he tried to melt chocolate using a bain marie. He doesn’t understand how he’d managed to become less and less competent in the kitchen in the nearly two years he’s had Damian. He used to be fucking amazing at cooking, he used to make a mean ribeye with mash. Also edible assortments of other things. He wouldn’t instagram any of them, considering he’s pretty much a celebrity due to his ‘Wayne child’ status and he’d rather not have his incompetencies blasted in teen magazines that still worships the ground he steps on, but it’s still decent.  
  
When the chocolate started burning, he freaked, immediately grabbing the nearest thing he could find (which happened to be his old utility belt. He doesn’t know why he still has it) and killed the flame using the miniature fire extinguisher he kept in his old Robin belt.  
  
Damian was fairly amused.  
  
Dick’s apartment smelled like burnt chocolate for the rest of the week.  
  
Wally finds it insanely hilarious, which confused Kori since the redhead dragged her (and Roy) that weekend when KF decided to come over.  
  
His second attempt was much better, and since Wally was there, he put a little bit of ghost pepper in his best friend’s mug.  
  
“Richard! What the fuck!”  
  
“Swear jar!”  
  
-  
  
On the 30th of the month, he received a phone call.  
  
It was late, so he didn’t bother, but the person was so persistent, calling and calling and calling. Dick was ready to throw his cell against the wall, but he needed his phone; who should he call when he needed to get Damian to do something like eat his vegetables?  
  
Obviously Tim.  
  
It took him a good twenty calls to realise that the calls weren't on his regular cell nor his hero cell, but on the one that he received that day. He didn’t realise that the thing would work, the thought that there was no way it did since it wouldn’t turn on.  
  
He was lying on his bed when he groggily picked up the phone with a half assed, “Hello?”  
  
 _“Sup Big Bird.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright since I re-read chapter 5 for age references, I'm gonna clarify something (that doesn't really need to be clarified) which is that all the Robins in this universe have a two year age difference. So, Dick is 20, Jason ~~is~~ would have been 18, and Tim is 16. I thought is should point that out to clear things up a bit.
> 
> Anyway, shorter chapter, but start of something. I guess since I'm not that subtle, you guys should know who's gonna be in the next chapter (hint: he died)
> 
> But what do you guys think would happen next? I know I've asked this question before, but since things have taken an unexpected turn, what would happen? What's gonna happen to Damian and his parental figures (heh sounds like a band name (I'm just gonna go now))?


	17. Year Two, Month Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damian: 33 months  
> Dick: 20  
> Month: May
> 
> *mini note: this chapter begins in May 1st, a minute after midnight.

Dick dropped the phone. Holy shit.  
  
Only one person calls him Big Bird, and that person is dead. He’s pretty sure about that, he saw Bruce carry the kid’s lifeless body out of the ruins. He flew the bat-plane back from Ethiopia to Gotham while Bruce held back his emotions.  
  
He wasn’t there for his funeral, but he knew that the kid died.  
  
He picked up the phone in disbelief. He recognised that voice. It was the voice of Jason Todd post awkward-voice-breaks puberty.  
  
“Jason?”  
  
Oh my god.  
  
“If this is catfish, I’ve got no time for this. I have a son and I don’t want to be a part of your stupid TV show.”  
  
_“Have you even seen catfish? The host usually emails you if you are. Then again, wouldn’t be surprising since you never check your fucking email.”_  
  
“Who is this?”  
  
_“Open your window.”_  
  
“Not until you tell me who you are.”  
  
_“Not until you open your fucking window.”_  
  
“Not until you-“  
  
_“Literally open your fucking window before I break in.”_  
  
Dick grumbled. He didn’t want to move from his bed, “It’s not locked.”  
  
_“It is, you piece of shit.”_  
  
Dick rolled his eyes, he knew it wasn’t locked since he came in from his window this morning after this run. Considering he forgot his keys and it was 3 in the morning and he made sure he was only gone for about half-an-hour so he didn’t have to call anyone. It was only around the apartment building so it was a really short early-early morning run. Also he was at home the whole day, apart from that time where he had to get the mail with Damian, so he didn’t really lock the window.  
  
He poked his head outside only to see a shadowy figure sit on his neighbour’s fire escape, he sighed.  
  
“If you’re Jason, you’re on the wrong fire escape,” Dick grumbled, “And if you’re not, I don’t appreciate this, prank or whatever, I have no time for stupid jokes and using my dead brother’s old nickname for me is a low blow.”  
  
“If you’re Grayson, you’d notice that I’m literally lying on the sofa,” a voice said, “Also, fuck you, I’m allowed to joke about my own death.”  
  
Dick turned around to see a red helmeted man lying on his sofa. He freaked. What the actual fuck is Red Hood doing in his living room?  
  
Dick got into his fighting stance, “You are not taking away my son.”  
  
The outlaw tapped the side of his helmet, “Who said I was going to?”  
  
“Oh my god.”  
  
-  
  
His blue eyes met with Jason’s now light teal ones. The younger looked slightly smug, yet angry at the same time. Dick felt slightly exposed, since he was standing only in his boxers and a loose pyjama shirt that made him look pants-less.  
  
It got even worse when Damian decided to be a fucking ninja and appear out of nowhere.  
  
“Daddy, Dami wanna pee.”  
  
Dick groaned, “Do you think you can pee on your own, baby? Daddy’s got a visitor.”  
  
Jason raised his eyebrow, “Daddy?”  
  
Little Damian squinted, “Who that?”  
  
“I’ll be right back,” Dick said, “C’mon, let’s go, and after you have to march straight to bed, alright?”  
  
“But Dami wanna know!”  
  
“Dami also needs to sleep,” Dick told the small boy, picking him up so he didn’t have to walk too much, or appear out of nowhere. He doesn’t understand how this kid could be that stealthy, he’s literally two.  
  
“Can Dami say bye to Daddy friend?”  
  
Dick sighed, “Sure.”  
  
“Bye Daddy friend! Night-night!”  
  
-  
  
“What the fuck, Jason?!” Dick shouted, silently, he wasn’t sure how he’d managed to learn how to shout in silence, but he did. Maybe it’s the parenting.  
  
“What the fuck?! Why the fuck are you playing house with B’s son?!”  
  
Dick fumed, how dare this kid? What does he know about his life, or Bruce’s? Damian isn’t Bruce’s son, biologically, maybe, but Damian is not Bruce’s. Damian’s Dick’s. He has been for nearly two years now, and he always will be.  
  
Dick is still bitter about the amount of clothes he had to throw away because of the unremovable stains of baby vomit, but that didn’t matter. He loved Damian more than anything in the world, and of some presumably undead _stranger_ (well, not really) to say otherwise is uncalled for.  
  
“Why the fuck do you give a shit?! You were dead! You’ve been dead for nearly three years!” the elder retorted, “Bruce was devastated! He was in no condition to raise a child, emotionally or physically. He doesn’t know shit about babies and this one literally appeared out of nowhere! What else were we supposed to do? Throw him away?!”  
  
“He could’ve gotten Alfred to raise him! Or something! Anyone but you!”  
  
Dick was offended, “What’s wrong with me? What is so bad about Richard John Grayson that makes him unsuitable to raise a child?!”  
  
Jason sat there in silence, and Dick was honestly ready to punch the kid square in the face. He doesn’t even know if this guy was actually Jason, the snarky little shit that he loved and Bruce treated like his own. He was the polar opposite of Dick, which made him distinctive and unique, and as he grew older, he became more rebellious, reckless, it went bad. Deep down, he knew that all Jason wanted was someone who cared, and because everyone was too busy trying to deviate from Bruce’s brooding, they forgot about Jason.  
  
And when he was gone, everyone regretted everything.  
  
Underneath the macho bravado, Jason was a sweet kid who loved literature more than anything in the world. He once told Dick that he wanted to be an author, and he was studying so hard to get into the best Lit school in the country.  
  
When he saw Jason crack before his very eyes, he softened. He knew that if it was anything like before, his eyes would shift into a deeper cyan hue. The second Robin’s eyeballs were weird like that. Dick’s always thought that his eyes looked like the ocean whenever he’s angry. Or sad.  
  
But Jason’s eyes didn’t look as blue as the ocean as it did before, it flashed green, and it scared the older man. And with a growl, Jason stated.  
  
“Because he’s not just B’s, and that piece of shit had no right to get rid of his son like that.”  
  
-  
  
Shock was an understatement.  
  
Everyone with a brain knew that Damian was ‘not just B’s’, Talia has got to be involved somehow, because biology, obviously.  
  
But the way Jason said it, the way he growled angrily like how an alpha wold would to protect his pact made it slightly suspicious.  
  
“What do you mean, ‘he’s not just B’s’?” Dick questioned, “There is no way in hell that B could produce a child with just a sperm. Or maybe there is. I don’t know, man, I’m not a science person!”  
  
Jason scoffed, “That’s your argument? That you’re not a science person? God, I thought you were supposed to be the smarter one.”  
  
“Stop insulting me, Jesus,” Dick groaned, “You came back from the dead, Jason, and all you care about is how I’m unfit to be a father because Damian is ‘not just B’s’? Of course he isn’t! You need an ovarian cell and a sperm toad thing to make a baby, and I’m pretty sure Talia contributed in the creation of my son!”  
  
“He’s not yours! He will never be yours as long as my blood still runs in his veins!” Jason argued, “Also there’s no such thing as an ‘ovarian cell’, you idiot!”  
  
_What the fuck?_ “What?”  
  
There is no way. Jason would’ve been 16 when Damian was conceived. There was no way in hell that this kid could be the father. The paternity test they did confirmed that Bruce was the father, and Jason was dead. Jason’s been dead for a little bit over three years.  
  
“How?” Dick asked, “You were-“  
  
“Damian nearly didn’t survive the artificial womb, alright?” Jason’s eyes shifted blue, “Talia was devastated. She loved B more than anything, and she thought that giving him a child would secure her love and get him to join in the League.”  
  
Dick raised his eyebrow.  
  
“She put me in the pit a few days before my 16th birthday. She thought putting Dami in the pit would fuck him up, so she extracted my DNA and fused it with the kid’s. Not sure how, but here,” Jason handed him a vial of blood, “Check if you don’t. Should be a 89% match. More than enough for blood relative, not enough for father.”  
  
“How do you-“  
  
“Because I’ve done it before.”  
  
And with that, Jason left.  
  
-  
  
Wait a second, who the fuck was the other person in the neighbour’s fire escape?  
  
Regardless, Dick should learn how to lock his fucking windows. So, after Jason left, he did.  
  
-  
  
Dick was left with mountains of results, confirming Jason’s story.  
  
His shared DNA percentage wasn’t as high as Bruce’s and Damian’s, but it was high enough for them to be considered blood relatives. Possibly siblings. Which was nearly impossible, considering the only way that would be a possibility was if Jason was either Bruce’s or Talia’s to begin with, and the Jason is neither’s.  
  
“I’m so confused.”  
  
“You don’t think I am?” Tim retorted, “Jason Todd, a Robin everyone presumed was dead came into your apartment in the middle of the night to yell at you. And what do we get? A piece of paper saying that Jason’s and Damian’s DNA matches! Jesus Christ, this is sounding like some sort of fucked up drama-reality show thing."  
  
“Or a formulated alternate universe where everything dramatic hits you when you don’t need any more additional drama,” Dick sighed, “Seriously, though, I’m raising a kid who’s Bruce’s, Talia’s, and Jason’s at the same time, and I can’t even get a girlfriend.”  
  
“You’ve already had like a million relationships,” Tim scoffed, “Zatanna, Babs, Kori, Oh, and did you date Wally for a hot minute?”  
  
“That doesn’t count!”

“Yes it does,” Tim snickered, “Slut.”  
  
“Hey, I’m a single father of-“  
  
“ _One at 19_ , yeah, yeah, whatever,” Tim rolled his eyes, “You’re also actively flirting with your son’s physician, and a couple of older women from the grocery store. Also, pretty sure Mr Wilkes been trying to get in your pants since he first laid eyes on you. And you’re 20 now. So, yeah that excuse is pretty much expired.”  
  
“Timothy.”  
  
“The point is, you met my childhood hero and I am bitter.”  
  
“I lived with your childhood hero for like, 6 years,” Dick chuckled, “He became Robin when I became Nightwing.”  
  
“Yeah, and you were also kind of a dick to him.”  
  
“Comes with the name, I guess.”  
  
“Dick?”  
  
“No, Nightwing.”  
  
Tim frowned.  
  
“What are we going to do now?”  
  
Dick shrugged.

"Wait, does that mean we're gonna be on Rickey Smiley?"

"Richard!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyy so i might be a little late posting the next one because i've been supes busy with life and everything but woohoo plot twist. also longer chapter. huzzah!
> 
> (also i've planned this from the beginning haha, i thought it'd be interesting since i didn't want jason to just appear out of nowhere and be angry. i feel like it gives him more reason to be pissed at b's decision because he was 16-17 when damian was born so he couldn't do anything so he thought he'd give him to b so he'd have a good future. but things don't go into plan and y'know stuff happens)
> 
> the 'ovarian cell' joke was inspired by my friend thought ovums (ova?) was called 'ovarian cells' for a while.
> 
> soo, thoughts? is jason's anger justified? what's gonna happen when he finds out that bruce refused to take in damian but then took tim in instead? what's gonna happen when bruce finds out?
> 
> (you're also allowed to bash me in the comments section if you want i reply to every comment in there so yeah let's start a discussion while i try to sort my life out yet again!)
> 
> hope you're all having a fantastic day!


	18. Year Two, Month Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damian: 34 months  
> Dick: 20  
> Bruce: 30  
> Jason: 18  
> Month: June

It was like a rollercoaster of emotions, drama, and Bruce staring at Dick like he’d just grown a second head.  
  
When he told the man about what happened with Jason, Bruce’s eyes started to water. Slightly. He knew that the man felt bad about making Dick raise Damian, but never did he expect that the one Robin he actually considered to be one of his own to suddenly be alive.  
  
Everyone knew that Jason as the closest thing Bruce had to a son. Excluding Damian, of course, but Bruce treated him as if he was his own. Jason was so much like Bruce in his younger days, excluding the aristocratic manners and high class upbringing. The raven haired, foul mouthed, literary loving boy was his pride and joy, even though the younger would constantly compare himself to Dick.  
  
He remembered the kid using him in arguments, saying that _“I’m sorry I’m not perfect like Dickiebird.”_ or _“I’m sorry I’m not bendy like Nightwing.”_ But everyone knew that Bruce didn’t give a rats ass whether or not he was ‘perfect’ or ‘flexible’, Jason reminded Bruce of himself. Of what he would be like if he at least had a father.  
  
He remembered hating his annoying, piece of shit attitude at first, but then feeling sorry for him when he told him that he’s never seen a movie. The kid lost his childhood, and with the Wayne-Graysons he’d managed to get a semblance of it back. Jason was like that endearing but annoying kid brother you had, that makes you feel like you want to punch him in the face constantly but hug and coddle him when he’s sad. The one you hate but want to protect from the evils of the world. Or, at least, that’s what Dick thought.  
  
“You’re telling me, that the boy I buried six feet under three years ago is alive?” Bruce asked, “Dick, are you sure?”  
  
Dick nodded, “He was in my apartment.”  
  
Bruce raised his eyebrow, “Is this some kind of prank? Because I hate to break it to you, Richard, April Fools was two months ago, and that prank you did was a pile of horseshit.”  
  
“Hey, I worked hard on that!”  
  
“You locked me in a closet with Hal Jordan,” Bruce stated, “You know he can ‘construct’ a key with his ring and get us out, right?”  
  
Dick pouted.  
  
“Yeah Dick, stop trying to make Bruce and Hal happen, it’s not gonna happen,” Tim sipped whatever the fuck was in his mug, Dick bets 10 bucks it’s espresso, “Plus, Daddy Bats is more of a ‘Selina Kyle’ kind of gal. Pal. I don’t know. I’m done trying to be cool.”  
  
Bruce and Dick raised their eyebrows, “Daddy Bats?” they asked in unison, making Tim go slightly red.  
  
“Did you adopt him?”  
  
“No, he refused to sign the papers,” Bruce answered, “Regardless, your story about Jason is… strange.”  
  
“We have papers to prove it, also my eyeballs,” Dick said, “Well, you can’t extract my eyeballs and see what I saw-“  
  
“I get it, Dick.”  
  
“It’s just you have to take my word for it.”  
  
“Dick-“  
  
“And trust me, Jason was in my apartment, I swear! I gave him a good-“  
  
“Richard!”  
  
“We also have surveillance on your apartment,” Tim chipped in, “So, maybe we could look at the tapes?”  
  
-  
  
‘Looking at the tapes’ turned out to be useless and a waste of time, because surveillance were shut on the day Dick had his yelling match with Jason. Which was odd, his building is usually top notch with security, that’s why he lives there. Plus, the only place that didn’t have cameras was his bedroom, since he keeps all of his Nightwing gear in a secret compartment in his walk in.  
  
Dick groaned, “Great, now we have no proof but the papers.”  
  
_“There’s also reports on criminal activity in 3rd Street, some guy named Red Hood is on the run,”_ Barbara’s voice rung the speakers, _“Hi boys, having fun?”_  
  
“Now? It’s only 5PM!”  
  
Bruce sighed, “I’ll handle this.”  
  
“Wait,” Tim stopped him, “Let me come with you.”  
  
“No, you will stay with Dick and Damian.”  
  
“Wait, what? You're benching him so he could stay with me and Damian? Also why don't I get to come instead?” Dick whined, “I haven’t patrolled in ages!”  
  
“You were injured, Richard, and now you’re out of shape,” Bruce stated, putting on his cowl, “Make sure nothing happens to Damian.”  
  
“But-“  
  
“Nothing happens to Damian. That’s an order.”  
  
-  
  
It’s been a while since he’d tried to track down Jason Todd, mainly because the last time he did, it was too late.  
  
He was mere milliseconds from getting the boy out of the explosion, and watching the building go off right before his very eyes crushed him. Jason was his son. Jason has always been his son. Well, the closest to ever being his anyway.  
  
They were similar, in a way, they both watched their parents rot right before their eyes, Bruce to a murder, Jason to addiction. He was brash, angry, dark, much like Bruce was in his youth. Jason was troubled, but so was he.  
  
He remembered the first time he saw the kid, he was so small, frail, with all the righteous anger he could muster. Bruce felt like if he were to poke the kid he’d fall and break. The first time he met him as Batman, the second he took the kid to IHOP as Bruce. He remembered what the kid ordered, a double blueberry stack with a large scoop of vanilla ice cream. With hot earl grey tea on the side. He doesn’t know how this street kid managed to get his hands on earl grey, but he claimed that it was the only thing his mother would drink other than booze.  
  
He also found it weird that he’d drink it in midday.  
  
Tim did the same, but instead he ordered Americano and just regular buttermilk with a side of bacon. Bruce remembered his (attempt to) joke about kidney failure to lighten the mood. Tim kept frowning until he got his plate of bacon and pancakes. He brings it up every breakfast when Dick’s not around, since whenever his eldest is around, they’d always end up bickering over CoolWhip and Damian’s diet.  
  
He really needs to stop taking his kids to IHOP.  
  
And trying to make jokes. He feels like it’s always been Clark’s thing.  
  
“Why the fuck are you staring at me, Old Man?”  
  
_Red Hood._  
  
Bruce growled, “You broke into my son’s apartment.”  
  
“ _Your son_ needs to learn how to lock his fucking windows,” the man spat, his grip tightening on his gun, “I’m not responsible for his stupidity.”  
  
Bruce managed, he really did, he tackled the murderous outlaw to the ground and blew a couple of punches his way, to which the Hood dodged. the Bat made sure that the other’s guns were far from his reach, because everyone knew that the Bat doesn’t do guns. Or murder. And he’d rather not kill this bastard before finding out who the fuck he is.  
  
The man didn’t fight back, which was odd considering if it was Jason, Bruce expected to at least get punched in the face. He knew what Jason was like. He knew the kid like the back of his hand. Jason was brash, harsh, and a fighter. Jason would never not fight back.  
  
But maybe it’s a statement. Maybe the only reason why he isn't fighting back is because-  
  
_Smack!_  
  
Bruce spoke too soon.  
  
It was unlike the Red Hood to use his surroundings to his advantage, that was mostly a Batman/Nightwing thing. He usually relied on his firearms, the pistols hooked on the holster by his sides, the Revolver he hides in his jacket, the AK he sometimes sports.  
  
On rare occasions, the Hood would use knives.  
  
But that was not the case for today.  
  
They fought with their fists, to the point where Bruce could feel the taste of copper in his mouth. To the point where he could hear the Hood gasp for air. To the point where Bruce used most of his remaining strength to pin the man against a wall.  
  
“Who are you?!”  
  
“Didn’t Goldie tell you already,” the man scoffed, taking off his helmet, “Miss me?”  
  
His eyes widened, “Jason?”  
  
“The one and only,” the other responded sternly, “What? Sad that I didn’t actually die? Heard you’ve already got a replacement for me. He’s a good, dare I say, carbon copy of me and Goldie combined.”  
  
Bruce was stunned. Jason was alive.  
  
Jason was alive.  
  
No, Jason is alive.  
  
“Jason-“  
  
Jason paused, scowled, quickly grabbed the nearest thing to his left, and before he could take a hard swing at the Bat, the man stopped him. He stopped him, grabbed his arm, and took off his cowl as soon as it started to rain.  
  
Oh, how dramatic of you, weather.  
  
“I can’t-This is-“  
  
“Impossible, I know.”  
  
“I-” Bruce’s chest tightened, “I saw you die before my eyes.”  
  
The other scoffed, “Didn’t stop you from getting a replacement.”  
  
“Jason-“  
  
“Hell, in fact, you didn’t only replace me, but your son. Your own flesh and blood,” Jason growled, “I risked everything for that kid, I made sure your girlfriend didn’t have a chance to screw him up, tried to raise him with no money and no background on newborns, I thought you’d be better. I thought you’d do better. ‘Stead you threw him away and chucked him onto Goldie.”  
  
_“Jason-“_  
  
“One day that kid’s gonna hate you for the rest of his life,” Jason grumbled, “Just like I did when I heard that you were going to take Robin away from me. Heck, you already did, haven’t you? Figured Jay’s dead now, better give the mantle to someone who’s actually _worth your time_.”  
  
Bruce’s fist collided with the wall, he was beyond furious. How dare this kid insinuate that he didn't care about him? How dare he disregard his suffering despite his lack of knowledge of it's existence? “Don’t you dare think for a second that you were not worth my time,” Bruce thundered, “You have no idea what I went through when you died. You were my son, Jason.”  
  
“Bullshit, you had Goldie, you had _the_ Dick Grayson, the polite, charismatic acrobat! He was your son. He still is. I was a street rat you took in out of pity!”  
  
“Being second to Dick doesn’t make you less of a son to me! You’ll always be my son!” Bruce argued, “When you died, I saw the world flash before my eyes. I had to carry your lifeless body back to the chopper. I had to sign it off in customs so I could get you a proper burial. I had to fucking watch the press cash in on my sorrow. On your death. On the death of my son.”  
  
He paused.  
  
“I even nearly shot the Joker.”  
  
Jason was slightly stunned, but in a way also angry. He’d forgotten about his anger towards Bruce for not avenging his death when he tried his hardest to raise Damian to the best of his ability. Damian had always been top priority, and when he found out that Bruce had dumped the kid onto Dick, he was furious. So furious that he didn’t even think about the Joker or Bruce’s attitude towards his passing.  
  
“I thought about taking care of Damian, of raising him and making sure I treated him right, but I knew, right after I saw you get taken away, I would never be able to do it. I couldn’t give him the emotional support or presence he deserves, because every time I see his eyes, the light blue with green specs around his pupils, I thought of you, and how I got you killed.”  
  
The Bat let Jason out of his grip and looked him straight in his blue-green eyes, “Don’t you dare insinuate that I didn’t give a shit about you, Jason, because I did, and I still do,” he said.  
  
Jason pursed his eyes, “Fine, if you want to be a shitty father, go for it, but know that he’ll hate you one day.”  
  
-  
  
Jason unlocked his Safe House and found a manila envelope on his coffee table.  
  
Out of precaution, he took out his disarming kit, but found out that since it’s a fucking envelope, what kind of bomb would be so small that it would fit in a thin ass manila.  
  
Inside, there were documents, which was weird considering he didn’t need it, he’s no longer a member of the Wayne-Grayson poster family or the Batman squad of vigilante strays, so he didn’t need to exist, in a legal sense anyway. He was fine living in the shadows, considering he’d made his point very clear to Bruce.  
  
But when he read it, he couldn’t help but crack a smile. He knew that Bruce always makes Babs do the legal paperwork and what not, so it was not surprising that she’d managed to give him a legal ID that had the exact same initials as he had. Jacob Paul Turner, whom was apparently the ‘missing’ son of the deceased Paul Turner and secret Wayne son that happened to be the same age as the now ‘deceased’ Jason Todd. He doesn’t know how she does it, but he found it kind of amusing.  
  
Inside there was also a note. And something else. Something inside an envelope.  
  
_Jason,_  
  
_Consider this as my attempt to show you that I care about you. Call it whatever you want, I know you hate me for doing this to Damian, which I apologise for. I am in no way trying to buy my way into your life, but I knew this was what you’ve always wanted and I’d hate to see you give up on your dreams._  
  
_Now you can pursue that career in literature that you’ve always wanted. Provided if you keep your grades up._  
  
_B._  
  
Jason raised his eyebrow and scoffed, like hell Bruce isn’t trying to buy his way into his life. There was no way that he wasn’t.  
  
He debated on throwing away the note and the extra envelope, but when he saw the ‘Gotham Academy’ on the corner of the envelope, his eyes widened.  
  
He opened the letter, because he couldn’t believe his eyes. What game is Bruce playing? Is he fucking serious right now? Did he just get him accepted into prep school when it would be literally impossible and too late for him to even enroll? Not to mention the guy didn’t know he existed before their fight a couple of weeks prior and he’s fucking ancient now. How the fuck did this happen?  
  
_Bruce Wayne_  
_1007 Mountain Drive,_  
_Gotham_  
  
_Dear Mr Wayne,_  
  
_We are delighted to inform you that your son, Jacob Turner, is hereby accepted to Gotham Academy under special consideration as an adult learner. Please find enclosed a list of necessary books, class supplies, and uniform requirements. We await a response via electronic mail or post no later than July 31st-_  
  
He didn’t even bother finishing the letter.  
  
Holy shit, Bruce just got him back into Gotham Academy.  
  
But he was skeptical, so he decided to text the man, saying, _“Thanks for trying to buy your way into my life. Fuck off.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm still in the midst of drama, but i just couldn't help it, i seriously wanted to update ;-;
> 
> This one's a little bit more jason-bruce centric because his role in this story is just as important as tim and dick's, since he's a major character in the sequels so i wanted to ease him into this universe (which i have not done successfully haha i need to practice more on my subtlety). It's also a little bit longer!
> 
> Soooo, what do you think? do you reckon Jason should've accepted the offer or was his text to bruce justified? what are your thoughts of bruce pretty much making babs fabricate his credentials so jason could go to college? what's gonna happen to the family in the future?


	19. Year Two, Month Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damian: 35 months  
> Dick: 20  
> Jason: 18  
> Tim: 17  
> Month: July

Dick Grayson has witnessed all of Bruce’s horrible decisions, all of them except that one where he bribed Barbara into creating an identity for his previously deceased younger brother and send an email to Gotham Academy saying that his ‘newest addition to the family’ will be attending school this upcoming September. He doesn’t know what happened, he doesn’t know how it happened, what he did know is that Damian had managed to stand on his tippy toes and he has never seen anything more glorious than his son on his little tip toes trying to reach a plastic cup.  
  
He doesn’t care if this is the weirdest thing he’s ever put in Damian’s baby book, he feels like he’s written weirder things, but holy shit.  
  
“Tim,” Dick said to his phone, “Tim, Timothy, Timmers, Tim-Tam, _Tim-_ “  
  
_“What?”_  
  
“Damian just stood on his tip toes.”  
  
_“Dick, it’s five in the morning.”_  
  
“YES BUT HE STOOD. ON. HIS. TIP TOES.”  
  
He heard Tim sigh, _“What’s next, are you gonna, I dunno, enroll him in a ballet class or something?”_  
  
Dick’s eyes widened, “That’s a great idea,” he said, “How old does a child have to be to enter ballet classes?”  
  
Tim groaned, _“Dick, seriously, I’ve been up all night trying to fix B’s mess.”_  
  
“Yeah, but you were the one who insisted on being Robin,” Dick pointed out, “Anyways, I have never been more proud of my child than I am today.”  
  
“Daadd, Dami hungry.”  
  
“And I am going to go feed my child, goodbye.”  
  
His life was awesome, his daily routine consisted of making food for a two year old who thinks he’s cool. No one in his family thinks he’s cool, none of his exes did either. Well, Kori thought he was cool for a while, well, until she met Roy, but she doesn’t count considering she isn’t from this planet. He’d never thought that a two year old thinking he’s cool would be the highlight of his entire life.  
  
But sometimes, his life wasn’t awesome, sometimes he had to deal with Bruce’s shit, and when that happens-  
  
“Why the fuck is Bruce such a piece of shit?!”  
  
_Jesus Christ,_ “What are you doing in my kitchen?!”  
  
“Daddy! Is Daddy Friend!”  
  
“Yes, Damian, he’s my friend,” Dick smiled, “He also needs to put two dollars in the swear jar.”  
  
“What?! Are you serious?!”  
  
“All of the money I make from all of you badmouthing in front of my child goes to cancer research,” Dick said, “Now, money.”  
  
Jason groaned, “I only have hundreds.”  
  
“Well,” Dick grinned, “A hundred dollars for cancer research would be pretty awesome. Don’t you think so, Dami?”  
  
Damian nodded.  
“I can’t-You sound just like a middle aged mom,” Jason grumbled and put a hundred in the god forsaken jar, which happened to be pretty full of dollar bills. He wondered why since Dickiebird is so anal about people cursing.  
  
“I spent a day with Ollie, Dinah, and Roy.”  
  
Jason shrugged. Makes sense.  
  
“Alright, now, what are you doing in my kitchen?”  
  
-  
  
Dick grumbled. Why does he have to deal with all of this Bruce/Jason drama? Why can’t he just chill with his two year old? What if Damian does something cool again? What if Damian decides that he wanted to climb the wall like a spider or some shit? He doesn’t know. Toddlers are freaking weird. But honestly? He’d rather spend the whole day with James Wilkes than deal with Bruce and Jason’s shit. And James Wilkes is… Strange.  
  
When Jason told him about the school thing, Dick shrugged and told him that Bruce probably already sent an email back so it was up to him if he wanted to go to school (and be in the same class as Tim, but he didn’t know if he should tell the angry Red Hood that) this upcoming September or not. Jason was obviously furious, and the kid has always had a temper, so Dick knew how to handle it. Key word being ‘knew’. Past tense.  
  
When Jason’s eyes started glowing green, he was madly horrified yet intrigued.  
  
“Whoa,” Dick exclaimed, “Your eyes.”  
  
Jason didn’t respond like a normal human would, heck, the kid freaking growled.  
  
Dick was tempted to turn off the lights just to see if his eyes glows in the dark like Kori’s eyes do sometimes, but if the kid is anything like he is on the news, he probably shouldn’t.  
  
“Jay, y’know B’s stubborn as a rock, nothing you do is gonna change his mind,” Dick tried, “I mean, when I first got Damian I tried to get rid of him-“  
  
“You, _what?!_ ”  
  
“I was 18! I didn’t know anything about babies! The kid was 6 months old!” Dick said, which was probably a bad idea. But meh, his life is already full of bad ideas. “Point is, B wouldn’t take him. See? Stubborn. Like a rock.”  
  
Dick then started eyeing Damian, who’s happily playing with his piece of toast, giggling like a happy little small child with no worries what so ever. He adores the kid, especially after noticing the little things about him. Like how he has little green specs in his eyes and freckles, which you can barely notice considering how light and barely there they were. He still hasn't lost his baby weight, and that makes Dick very happy because Damian is literally the most adorable child he’s ever seen.  
  
“I didn’t want to put him through adoption because the kid had these massive puppy eyes,” Dick sighed, “But that’s irrelevant, what’s relevant now is you need get out of my kitchen.”  
  
Jason shrugged, “French toast, though.”  
  
“That’s for Damian.” _And for me, but that’s fairly obvious, isn’t it?_  
  
“He’s two,” Jason grumbled, “What kind of two year old gets a full fledged- _Ah, fuck it_.” Jason quickly grabbed a piece and shoved it in his mouth, “Bye, Dickhead.”  
  
“Swear jar!”  
  
“I gave you a hundred bucks.”  
  
-  
  
“What do you want for your birthday, Timothy?” Dick asked while chopping apples into minuscule cubes so Damian would at least poke it with his plastic fork and put in his mouth long enough to swallow.  
  
Tim shrugged, “Maybe for you to stop leading on Mr. Wilkes or pining over Dr Jameson and move on with your life with some woman from Walmart?”  
  
Dick frowned, “I’m serious, what do you want for your birthday.”  
  
“Five week holiday from your early morning calls and B’s dad-nagging.”  
  
Dick sighed, “What if I get you laid?”  
  
Tim scoffed, “By who? One of your Supermarket cougars?”  
  
Dick chuckled, “Wow, rude. I know a lovely younger mother named Bertha and I feel like you’d be lucky to have her. Not sure about Donna or Karina, though, they’re like, 50.”  
  
Tim laughed, “Pretty sure that’s like, illegal, so pass.”  
  
Dick stared, “What about a free child?”  
  
“What?”  
  
Dick picked up Damian from his play pen, “Free child. Feeding mandatory. Chill time optional.”  
  
“Uncle Timmy!”  
  
Tim stared at Dick, “Stop using your child against me.”  
  
Dick pouted, “But he’s cute.”  
  
“Everyone knows he’s cute, Dickhead, even he knows he’s cute,” Tim pat Damian’s head, “Can’t believe he’s partially assassin and broody mess who’s ruining my life.”  
  
Damian yawned.  
  
“We love you, though, baby,” Dick kissed his toddler’s slightly less chubby cheek, “Also stop being so dramatic, you’re nearly as bad as-“  
  
_Jason._  
  
Idea!  
  
-  
  
“No.”  
  
“Why not?”  
  
Jason grumbled, “I don’t want to go to your little League of Stray convention.”  
  
“But it’s Tim’s birthday!”  
  
“Who the fuck is Tim?”  
  
“B’s permanent house guest,” Dick explained, “He’s a massive fan.”  
  
Jason raised his eyebrow, “I have fans?”  
  
Dick squinted, “Well, yeah, everyone has fans.”  
  
Jason scoffed.  
  
“I’ll buy you pancakes?”  
  
“No.”  
  
“I’ll let you chill in my kitchen with Damian?”  
  
“No.”  
  
“I’ll talk to B about your schooling situation?”  
  
“Fuck off, Nightwing,” Jason said.  
  
“Please?”  
  
Jason groaned, “Fine.”  
  
-  
  
Tim’s birthday was okay. Sort of. Dick and Damian got to meet this girl named Steph. Damian absolutely adores her, which is weird, considering the only girls Damian actually likes are Kelsey and Camilla. He doesn’t get his child sometimes, he’s all smiles and cute in front of random people but he gets grumpy afterwards. With Steph he was just all happy and shit. Probably because she embarrasses Tim a lot, which is cute.  
  
Her gift was shit, though. She gave him an iTunes Gift Card. Everyone knows Tim’s more of an Android person, an Android person who has an iPhone for some reason, but an Android person nonetheless.  
  
But that didn’t last very long, didn’t it?  
  
Dick’s brilliant idea of getting Tim to meet Jason for the first time on his birthday backfired terribly as he didn’t expect any of this to happen.  
  
Jason showed up when most of the guests have gone, since he figured he could just go in, say hi, give this Tim kid an autographed vintage Robin card he’d managed to find (which he soon figured out was a terrible gift, but Jason barely knows this kid) and leave, but something happened. Something bad.  
  
Talia did a lot of things to Jason Todd, one of which was pre-programmed him to have a target, namely Timothy Drake, heir to Drake industries and current Robin. He didn’t realize that the Tim that he’s about to meet is the same Timothy Drake that he’s supposed to kill, and when his green eyes met with Tim’s blue ones, everything went blurry.

The last thing he could hear was Dick screaming, “Jason, no!” and Damian’s cry of, “Uncle Timmy!” and he ran off before anyone could say anything, leaving Timothy Drake to lie on the ground pooled in his own blood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know what you're thinking, 'didn't you say that we're gonna go back to the regularly scheduled programming of dick-damian father-son cuteness somewhere?' and 'hey why is this slowly focusing more and more on jason?' and 'wow you're not dead' well there is a reason for that, a reason that i will not say mainly because the reason might spoil the ending of this monster of a story and this little alternate universe as a whole
> 
> me disappearing for a couple of decades however, a couple of reasons; i got sick, had a breakup, got back together with someone that's not my most recent ex, and got caught in massive family drama. Also writers block. Yaay.
> 
> coincidentally, this chapter set in the month of July is posted on the month of July, which i find absolutely hilarious. but anyways, as usual, hope you like it, roast me in the comments if you want to, i love reading them and i reply to every single one of them as much as i can. so, thoughts on the ending? and ballerino damian?
> 
> idk man i feel like i've deviated so far from the canon this doesn't seem as bad as my other previous ideas on dami's future. also yaay steph (although she didn't say anything here tbh) and wow this was a roller coaster of a comeback isnt it haha. massive chapter this one. yep.


	20. Year Two, Month Seven

It was hard getting a small child to get over the trauma of seeing a person close to them get stabbed and almost bleed to death, but they had to work with it.  
  
Tim’s survival was pretty miraculous, Dick would say, and Damian’s nightmares are pretty justifiable, as the kid can never fall asleep alone in his room anymore, and cries when he sees Tim. It was a bad couple of weeks for them, and it’s all Dick’s fault.  
  
If he didn’t force Jason to come to Tim’s party, none of this would have happened in the first place.  
  
He was lucky though, in a way, since Damian didn’t really see Jason’s face when he stabbed the newest Robin in the gut.  
  
Well, not so lucky, but dammit he needed a little bit of positivity in his life, especially since Bruce is making him track down Jason for both the attempted murder of Timothy Drake and… Well, school.  
  
He fucking hates Bruce, Goddammit, why can’t he do it himself?! He has a traumatized toddler to deal with, he doesn’t need to run around Gotham looking for Bruce’s estranged child just so he could drag his sorry ass to school.  
  
Tim’s still in hospital care as well, since he kept tearing his stitches with his stubbornness to go back to the field. Dr Thompkins thought it was a good idea, and Dick agrees with her. They visit sometimes, and whenever he takes Damian, the child clings and refuses to let go. Of course, Tim doesn’t mind, as long as Damian doesn’t lie on his left abdomen he can cling for as long as he liked.  
  
“Baby, we gotta go home now, Uncle Timmy needs his beauty sleep,” Dick said, gently nudging the sobbing child clinging to Tim’s arm.  
  
“Dami wanna stay!” He cried.  
  
“I’m sorry, baby,” Dick sighed.  
  
They stayed silent for a moment, as Damian continued to sob in Tim’s arm. He really wished they could stay, but it was nearly midnight, and he couldn’t do that to Tim nor his child.  
  
Tim broke the silence, “You can stay the night if you wanted to,” he said quietly, “Dr Thompkins said I’m gonna get discharged tomorrow anyway.”  
  
“But you’re hurt.”  
  
“I’m fine, Dick,” Tim said, “Stop blaming yourself, if anything it’s Jason’s fault,” he frowned, “Can’t believe I idolized that guy. Could you imagine? Meeting your favorite person in the world and they suddenly stab you in the gut. Literally.”  
  
Dick chuckled, “It’s partially my fault, though, I was the one who made him come.”  
  
“Well, I don't blame you,” Tim smiled, “By the way, kiddo, your birthday’s coming up, isn’t it? What do you want for your birthday?”  
  
Damian gurgled something that faintly sounded like, “I want Uncle Timmy to go home.”  
  
“That can be arranged, what else?”  
  
“A kitty?”  
  
Tim looked at Dick, “Isn’t he allergic?”  
  
“No?” Dick responded, “Wasn’t he allergic to reptiles?”  
  
“I’m pretty sure it was cats.”  
  
“We’ll have to check with Dr Jameson,” Dick said, “Whaddaya think, Dami, we get to see Uncle Derek again!”  
  
Tim raised his eyebrow, “Uncle Derek?”  
  
“His first name is Derek,” The other explained, “Also he told Damian he could call him ‘Uncle Derek’ since he can’t say ‘Jameson’ for some reason.”  
  
Tim smirked, “You’re just happy you’re on first name basis with your doctor crush.”  
  
“Shut the full cup.”  
  
-  
  
“Well, if it isn’t Damian,” Dr. Jameson grinned, “What up, kiddo?”  
  
Dick smiled, “Say hi, baby.”  
  
“Hiyya!”  
  
Dr. Jameson gave Damian a small high five before looking at his iPad, “So, we’re doing your allergy tests today, huh?”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
“Okay, we’ll do the skin test today and get some blood work done to see if kid’s allergic to anything, is he okay with needles?”  
  
Well, he was, but Dick doesn’t know if he’ll be okay with seeing blood after the incident with Tim.  
  
“Erm-“  
  
“It’s fine, most kids get scared when they do this, especially ones as young as Damian,” Dr. Jameson grinned, “How are you? You haven't contacted me or sent me cat pictures in weeks, I was getting slightly worried.”  
  
Dick gulped, “We had some issues that we had to deal with, my younger brother got into a really bad accident.”  
  
“No way, Tim got into an accident? That sucks,” he paused, “Lie him down for me.”  
  
Dick got Damian to lie face down on the examination table as Dr. Jameson prepped the allergy testing kit.  
  
“Let’s get the blood test over with so I can send it to the lab,” Dr. Jameson said as he sterilized the needle, “Close your eyes, Damian.”  
  
Damian closed his eyes and hiccuped a bit when the needle pierced his skin. The young doctor made sure that he took blood from a place that the kid might not be able to see, since Dick looked so fidgety when he asked if Damian was okay with needles. He put the blood into a little container and gave it to his accompanying nurse, before proceeding with the skin tests.  
  
Damian was weirdly quite during the test, with no indication of pain what so ever as Dr. Jameson dropped every single solution on their designated spots. So far there was nothing. And after 20 minutes, there was nothing.  
  
“Okay, so he’s not allergic to any foods or pollens, which is good, but I’ll email you the results as soon as I get it but since it’s also procedure you should get the bloodworm sent to your place,” the doctor said as he rummaged his drawers, “Do you want a lollipop or a plushie, Damian?” the doctor asked, holding a blue lollipop and a small Stitch toy.  
  
“Can Dami has candy, Daddy?”  
  
“Sure, kiddo.”  
  
Damian squeaked as Dr. Jameson handed him the little blue lollipop.  
  
“I was kinda surprised he didn’t pick the Stitch toy, since you said he liked Lilo & Stitch.”  
  
“He prefers Tangled now for some reason, really really likes Pascal.”  
  
“Fair enough,” Dr. Jameson shrugged, “Also, I asked Kyle if he wanted to come to Damian’s birthday and he said yes, so, yeah, we’ll be there.”  
  
Shit! Damian’s birthday party! He forgot about that! Fuck.  
  
Well, at least he didn’t have to invite the entire Justice League again, since Damian has actual friends like Colin and Dr. Jameson’s 10 year old Kyle. He also invited Wally, Kori, and Roy. And B and Tim are probably coming, and so’s Alfred. But yeah, he hopes it’s not gonna be awkward. Like last time.  
  
“Uhh, yeah.”  
  
“See you next weekend?”  
  
Dick nodded and walked out of the examination room, before calling Alfred for an emergency babysit because he needs to order a cake and get decorations before Saturday.  
  
Which is in three days.  
  
Haha, he’s fucked.  
  
-  
  
A lot of things happened prior to Damian’s birthday. One of them being Mr Wilkes’ weak smile that didn’t reach his eyes. Dick has always been polite enough to make small talk, to the point where Mrs Wilkes didn’t hate him as much as she did before. To the point where she continuously tells him to call her Sam instead of Mrs Wilkes. To the point where it confused him slightly when Mr Wilkes stopped his continuous flirting.  
  
“So, will you and Colin come to Damian’s party?” Dick asked, “Since he’s Dami’s first friend and all.”  
  
“We’ll think about it,” Mr Wilkes said, “When is it?”  
  
“This Saturday,” Dick smiled, “There’s gonna be a couple adults as well so I might sneak in a little bit of coffee time?”  
  
“That sounds nice,” the smile was there. Dick could see it. It was clear as day.  
  
“Are you okay, Mr Wilkes?”  
  
The older man paused and glanced at Dick. His teal eyes stared deeply into Dick’s blue ones. “Nothing important. I’ll keep you posted.”  
  
Dick couldn’t get the other’s expression out of his head. He looked so… Depressed. Like something was being taken away from him. Something important.  
  
“You asked him at the wrong time, Mr Grayson.” Kelsey sighed, “Poor Jay.”  
  
Dick raised his eyebrow, “Jay?”  
  
“What? Sam’s a distant relative,” Kelsey laughed, “Too bad she’s a bitch. First she cheats, second she robs him, and now she’s trying to take away his son.”  
  
 _What?_  
  
“Oh yeah, I forgot you’ve been mentally absent since your brother’s accident,” Kelsey mumbled, “Yeah, they’re recently separated. Under custody battle. And knowing Sam, she’s probably hired the best lawyers, even though she’s the guilty one in this scenario. She pretty much robbed him. Took his life savings and forced him to quit his job in the name of Colin.”  
  
Oh my god.  
  
“But anyway, I’ll see you at Damian’s party? Since I promised cake and all.”  
  
Dick nodded. He doesn’t know what to do. How to react.  
  
-  
  
If there was anything Damian Grayson loved more than chicken nuggets and Tangled, it was Kyle Jameson. And Colin Wilkes.  
  
There was something about Kyle that reminded him of someone. He refused to talk about it. But Damian adores him. Treats him like a real older brother, and Kyle treats Damian like a younger brother he’s never had.  
  
“Blujay!” Damian squealed when he saw Kyle. It was weird. Since they first met, Damian kept calling him ‘Blujay’. Kyle didn’t approve at first, attempting to teach the kid how to say ‘Kyle’ for two hours before giving up and plopping him on his lap and playing Moana on his iPad.  
  
Amazing how ten year olds have tech nowadays. When Dick was ten, all he had was ropes and trampolines. And those weren't fun trampolines. Those were practice trampolines. Whatever the fuck that meant.  
  
Well, that was before Bruce took him in. When B took him in, he had a fucking Home Theatre. He was so starstruck that he’d stay in it for days just enjoying the massive screen before him.  
  
Damian’s three now, and he’s accomplished so many things. He can count up to ten, formulate simple sentences. He can even say his full name without stuttering! Dick was so proud that day that he’d forgotten about all the downs of the past few weeks, all he could think about was how much progress he’s made with his son over the past two and a half years he’s been raising him. he didn’t care that Damian will never be entirely his. He didn’t care that his blood will always match Bruce and (for some reason) Jason’s. He didn’t care that his life was pretty much a boring cycle of paperwork in the station and picking up his son from daycare.  
  
All he knew was he loved this boy more than anything in the world.  
  
“Daddy, Blujay gave me a dino!” Damian squeaked.  
  
“Well, what do you say to Blujay, Dami?”  
  
“Thank you, Blujay!”  
  
He saw Kyle Jameson crack a smile, which lead to his father giving his son a look of mild concern, “You’re welcome, Damian.”  
  
“I can’t believe your son made my stoical rock of a son smile,” Dr Jameson said as he ushered them to the kitchen, “Holy shit. He doesn’t even smile with me, and I partook in his creation.”  
  
Dick shrugged, “Maybe he can’t stand your dumb jokes.”  
  
“Hey! I’m a comedic genius and you know it!”  
  
Dick raised his eyebrow, “Whatever stops the tears, babe.”  
  
The young doctor stuck his tongue out.  
  
Almost everyone was here. Kelsey was here, Wally, Roy, Kori and Lian were here, and so’s Lois and Jon, and Tim. The only people missing were Colin and the Wilkes. Damian hasn’t noticed yet, but when he eventually does, he knows he’s gonna be upset. Kyle can only keep his attention for so long. Everything is secondary to Damian when it comes to Colin.  
  
When Mr Wilkes finally appeared with Colin, he was wearing a suit. It was different. Dick has never seen James Wilkes in anything but his polo shirts and sweaters, a suit was a nice change. He looked nice. He had  a massive box with him, and when his eyes met Dick’s, he smiled.  
  
“Hi, sorry we’re late,” Mr Wilkes smiled, “This is for Damian, Colin picked it out himself.”  
  
“Awesome, I’ll take that, have you met Dr Jameson? He’s Dami’s doctor,” Dick paused. “You wanna see Dami, Colin? Come on!”  
  
The two older men shook hands while Dick ushered Colin to the living room where Kelsey and the kids were. Damian was overjoyed when he saw his best friend, to the point where he wriggled out of Kyle’s lap to hug him. Dick thought this was so cute, so he quickly snapped a pic and handed his son the present.  
  
Tim and Kelsey gave him a knowing smile, cheeky bastards. Wally and Roy were too busy having a light ‘debate’ (ehem, argument) while Kori and Lois chatted about Jon, who’s asleep on the elder woman’s lap. Jon’s a year younger than Damian, and he’s a little sleepy and quiet. Kind of what he wished Damian was during his first few months of absolute hell.  
  
It was nice having a family moment like this.  
  
-  
  
It was midnight when Jason pried open his window in panic. He hasn’t seen Jason since the incident, and he sure as hell doesn’t want to. The boy was a danger, not only to his son, but to his family as well. He nearly killed Tim.  
  
Even though it was partially his fault.  
  
Dick groaned. He was tired of this. Tired of having to deal with Jason and Bruce and their bullshit. Tired of being the middleman. For once in his life, he wanted to be pampered. He wanted to have a normal life with his son and the two men fighting for his heart in his life. He deserves peace after what he’s done all these years.  
  
Dick took out his escrima sticks. The one that he rarely uses, the one that could connect into a bo staff. And when Jason managed to enter, he hit him. Hard. In the head.  
  
“Okay, I deserve that,” Jason said, weakly.  
  
“What are you doing here?! After what you did to Tim you think I’m gonna let you back into our lives?!”  
  
“Hear me out, please, it’s about Damian.”  
  
Dick pursed his eyes and mentally signaled the younger to continue.  
  
“You know how I pretty much stole Talia’s child and left him on the Manor doorstep, right?” Jason said, “Well, erm, Talia put a chip in my brain.”  
  
Dick braced himself to hit him again.  
  
“I can’t fully blame the brain chip for triggering me into a murderous episode, because when I saw that little bastard, Tim, I wanted to hit him. I hated him. When I read his file, I thought I was done for. I was being replaced,” Jason paused, “Talia basically trained me to murder him.”  
  
“I don’t expect you to forgive me, but for Damian’s sake-“  
  
“I should forgive you?! For the sake of my son?!”  
  
“It’s not what you think!” Jason retorted, “All of this is my fault, okay?! Talia was never supposed to find out that I took Damian and ran. She left him with me expecting that I wouldn’t leave the League. I didn’t want him to be an assassin. I didn’t expect her to follow me.”  
  
“What are you trying to say, Todd?”  
  
“The chip is has a low range, Grayson. That’s what I’m trying to say,” Jason groaned, “Talia activated the chip in Tim’s party. She was there. In the vicinity of your son. And it’s all my fault.”  
  
What?  
  
“Damian’s in danger, Dick,” Jason told him, “And if anything, it’s all my fault.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol how much do y'all hate me
> 
> as always, leave your concerns and questions in the comments and i will respond to literally anything you send me. I appreciate the feedback even though Ive disappeared. I might update lots though because I just finished prewriting this haha
> 
> so, talia. thoughts?
> 
> also are you team wilkes or team jameson i need to know this aight for science
> 
> also, baby steps is coming to an end. only five chapters to go. however, this is supposed to have sequels, i can't promise anything so far, but look forward to that since i love this au more than anything it's my baby okay my 30k + baby
> 
> cheers!


	21. Year Two, Month Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damian: 37 months  
> Dick: 20  
> Month: September

Dick has been hyper alert of his surroundings since Damian’s third birthday, and it’s not going to stop until he finds Talia and puts her back in her place.  
  
What Jason said that night put everything into perspective, and if anything, he didn’t hate Jason as much as he did before. He still kinda mad at him for insinuating that he’s a bad father, AND for stabbing Tim. But he understood why he did it.  
  
It got to the point where he makes Tim hack the live security footage of Damian’s daycare just so at least one of them can hop in if Damian’s ever in danger.  
  
Dick can’t focus.  
  
He has mountains and mountains of paperwork, and since he’s got his life back on track, Commissioner Gordon is about to put him back on a team. That would double his workload, and he can’t afford that since Damian’s in danger.  
  
“Grayson!”  
  
Dick looked back to see a couple of his coworkers, “What?”  
  
“Harris just made his first bust, we’re going for drinks, coming?”  
  
Dick wanted to say yes. He wanted to be a normal rookie for once in his life. The one who gets drunk with his coworkers and gets belittled by his seniors. The one who laughs at dumb shit at 3AM before walking in shitfaced passed out in his couch. But he can’t do that. He’s a father.  
  
“Sorry, can’t.”  
  
“Oh yeah, forgot our good ol’ Grayson’s a dad now,” Harris laughed, “Next time, yeah?”  
  
Dick sighed. He needed to get back to work.  
  
-  
  
Damian’s with Alfred today, since Dick isn't secretly armed enough and he’s in the grocery store, trying to figure out of Damian still liked Pink Lady apples after Tim fed him those expensive Fuji apples Bruce eats sometimes. he figures he should stock up on some sweets to bribe Damian with later and some Broccoli so Tim would stop nagging at him about the amount of junk he lets his baby eat.  
  
Dick’s not really the best example since he survived on cereal before Damian appeared in his life.  
  
He figured he should get groceries since he just had the biggest fight of his life with Jason on going to school.  
  
Since Dick was the only person in the household with a drivers license who doesn’t entirely hate Jason for what he did to Tim, and wasn’t exactly busy for the day, Bruce made him track Jason down, dress him and throw him back to school. It was almost maddening, since it was a Monday and Mondays are usually the only weekday where he gets to chill with his son, and he nearly had an aneurysm when he saw Jason covered in blood and passed out with beer bottles around him.  
  
“Jason Peter Todd.”  
  
Jason flinched and pointed a gun at him, “Oh, it’s you,” he frowned, “Fuck off.”  
  
“It’s your first day of school.”  
  
“It’s your first day of get the fuck out of my house.”  
  
Dick growled, “If you don’t get your ass up off that couch and into the shower and put your goddamn uniform on I swear to god I will-“  
  
“Do what?”  
  
“I’ll tase it,” Dick said firmly, “This is my day off, Jason. I want to spend it with my son. And the sooner you wash off the blood, the sooner I can fuck off back into my life.”  
  
Jason scoffs, “I’d like to see you try.”  
  
Dick took the taser gun from Jason’s weapons drawer and pointed it at him, “I’m gonna count to three, Jason.”  
  
Jason ignored him and grabbed the nearest can of beer.  
  
“One.”  
  
Jason frowns. Maybe he should clean up.  
  
“Two.”  
  
Yeah he should definitely-Ouch!  
  
“You fuckin’ said three!”  
  
“I lost my patience,” Dick growled, “Ass to the shower, now.”  
  
-  
  
Jason was a nightmare. He was worse than six month old Damian, and he dreads the day Damian decides to finally follow his blood brother’s footsteps into teenage rebellion.  
  
They were almost late to class, and Jason didn’t even bother to put on his tie correctly. He looks like a wannabe delinquent. As a parent, Dick wanted to slap the teenage rebellion away from this little shit.  
  
He was even rude to the secretary. What a dick.  
  
“At least try to look like you like learning?” Dick sighed, “Didn’t you use to love books and knowledge?”  
  
Jason scoffs, “Whatever.”  
  
“What happened to my Little Wing who liked Jane Austen and wanted to go to Cambridge for literature?”  
  
He died. Jason thought. He died because none of you cared.  
  
-  
  
Dick stared daggers into the price tag of the apples. “Ten dollars for a pound of shitty apples?! I could get twice the amount for half the price in regular apples,” he muttered to himself.  
  
Dick frowned. The prices on these obnoxious fruits were driving him insane. Everything was driving him insane. He wanted to rewind to a couple of months ago when all he did was watch shitty cartoons with Damian, work, and chat up old ladies in the grocery store.  
  
That was fun.  
  
He hated this. He hated the fact that after he’s done grocery shopping he had to pick up Jason from school and deal with his scowling, grumpy mess. Then pick up Damian from the Manor and get Jason to do his homework. Hopefully Jason didn’t kill Tim in school since they’re in the same year. Hopefully.  
  
He’s done with Bruce’s shit. He’s done with living in Gotham. All he wants is to have fun with a child that loves him, not deal with an angsty previously dead teenager and his stupid mood swings who’s kind of growing rapidly despite all the beer he ingests. The only good thing about Jason is the fact that his apartment is spotless, and it drives Dick insane.  
  
“You don’t have to stare daggers at those apples, y’know, they didn’t do anything wrong,” a soft, familiar voice said.  
  
Dick chuckled, “Hi, Mr Wilkes,”  
  
Mr Wilkes smiled, “Didn’t I tell you to call me James?”  
  
“Okay, Hi James.”  
  
He could see the blood rise up to the older man’s cheeks, it was adorable how obvious his attraction was.  
  
“We didn’t see you in the daycare today, what’s up?”  
  
Dick sighed, “Some family stuff, nothing to worry about, how ‘bout you? Anything up in your life?”  
  
“Actually, yeah, there is,” Mr Wilkes paused, “I’m sure you’ve heard about Sam and I. I know Kelsey likes to gossip and I don’t blame her since this situation looks like it came straight out of a bad soap opera,” the man laughed awkwardly, Dick nodded, “Well, I, um, Colin and I are moving.”  
  
What?  
  
“Yeah, and we’re going to have a going away party next weekend, so I hope you can come. With Damian, of course.”  
  
Dick gulped, does this mean he will never see them again? Does this mean Damian will never see his best friend again?  
  
Does this mean he’ll never see James again?  
  
  
“Where?”  
  
“Ottawa,” Mr Wilkes smiled softly, “I got a job offer, and it pays more than Sam’s so I managed to win the custody battle.”  
  
“Canada?”  
  
“Yeah,” the older man rubbed the back of his neck, “We’re leaving later this month.”  
  
-  
  
He needed a drink. Preferably something with no calories.  
  
Ah, fuck it, he needed a beer.  
  
“First I get Bruce drama, then I get Jason drama, then I get Mr Wilkes drama?” he scoffed, opening a can of beer right after he puts Damian to bed, “I miss the days when the worst thing that could happen was Damian projectile vomiting on my designer clothes.”  
  
“I also kinda miss the days when you would just complain about Damian,” Tim muttered, “Why am I here again? Instead of, y’know, your good old pal Wally?”  
  
Dick grumbled, “Because I miss you, dummy, you’re my baby brother and you’ve been pretty much M.I.A since everything happened.”  
  
Tim shrugged, “Maybe it’s because I don’t want to be around you and your drama anymore, who knows?”  
  
“Don’t be salty when I’m suffering,” Dick groaned, before taking a breath and resting his head on Tim’s lap, “Jason didn’t try to kill you in school, didn’t he?”  
  
Tim shook his head, no, “He apologised.”  
  
What? “Really?”  
  
“Yeah, well, sort of, he shoved a card in my locker thinking that the hallway was empty. Had a signed vintage Robin card in it from when he was still in the suit. I think it was supposed to be for my birthday.”  
  
Dick squinted, “That doesn’t count.”  
  
“I know, but he was my hero, y’know,” Tim sighed, “I wanted it to be, and I know you might think I’m insane, but I forgive him because I get it. I got myself into this. I asked Bruce to give me the suit. I asked to be trained. I asked for this,” he paused, “So, for him to see my face, the one who took his life away from him, it must hurt.”  
  
-  
  
Damian was in tears.  
  
Today, James and Colin Wilkes were having their moving day, and Dick decided that it could be best to at least say goodbye.  
  
It was kind of a bad idea, considering Damian was holding onto Colin for his dear life, sobbing onto the other boy’s sweater as Colin shed small tears into Damian’s soft, black locks. The boys were talking gibberish, saying that they never wanted to separate and that they would miss each other. Or, at least that’s what Dick could decipher from their barely legible toddler talk.  
  
He looked at James, who was looking at the kids with a soft gaze of relief. Dick heard that the custody battle was over and done with, and that he got full custody of his only son, and that was great. It would be a lie though if Dick said that he wouldn’t miss his little advances and stolen gases, as James Wilkes was not a bad looking man, it’s just that Dick was never really interested until he was about to leave.  
  
Dick helped the man pack the last of his belongings onto his car, with the bulk of his things being shipped, all he had was two medium sized suitcases and a toy for Colin, just in case he gets antsy during the flight.  
  
It was bittersweet, seeing Damian and his first friend separate. Damian loved Colin, as they were always inseparable during daycare and would always cuddle up to each other during naptimes.  
  
But it was something that he couldn’t control. Something that he knew had to happen.  
  
But there was something that he could do before they go, something that he should’ve done a while ago so James had a reason to stay.  
  
“So, I guess this is-“  
  
Dick kissed the man softly, cutting him off mid way and shocking him out of his mind. The elder could feel the blood rushing upwards to his cheeks, but ignored it as he let his eyes flutter close, enjoying the soft surprise that he’d longed for a long, long time.  
  
And when they parted, Dick smiled, “I guess it is.”  
  
The older man chuckled awkwardly, “I can’t believe it took me moving to Canada for you to start liking me back,” James groaned, “Should’ve told you earlier. Maybe we could’ve had this moment before and I’d probably be fine with just working in Blüdhaven. Or, maybe even in Gotham.”  
  
“I can’t believe you had the audacity to be so obvious about your feelings to the point where I end up finding them endearing,” Dick smiled, “I could tell that you were about to tell me that day during Dami’s party. And to be honest, as much as I’ve started to like you. We can’t do this. I don’t want to risk Damian losing his first friend, even though you’re moving so I can’t really use that excuse,” he laughed, “You’re a good looking guy, Mr Wilkes, and someday, someone else would be lucky to have you.”  
  
“I just wish that that someone could’ve been you, though.”  
  
Dick sighed, “I’m sorry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've ghosted this story for far too long have i lol
> 
> there's a pretty good split between the people who are team wilkes or team jameson haha, depending on who you are, i feel like you're gonna either love me or hate me for this chapter. and the next one. and the one after that.
> 
> I've been pretty swamped with everything right now, but the good news is that i finished writing this story a couple months ago, so there should probably be no more excuses for me to NOT give consistent updates since everything's done and all. but we'll see.
> 
> thank you to everyone who's stuck with me since the story began, this fic started off really rocky cos i didn't want to explain it without ruining the story for everyone, i'm glad that you like it enough to continue reading and waiting for it's continuation. I've had so much fun writing this story
> 
> I initially wanted this story to have sequels, so i'm gonna continue with that idea. just know that none of them will have many chapters like this one. I actually prefer writing one shots haha, so they'll be that. I'll update those periodically so make sure you sub to this fic as a series instead of just this one for updates!
> 
> cheers!
> 
> (AO3's not letting me reply to any of the comments right now, but know that I always reply to them and i always love reading your comments so leave me some to get me going!)


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